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IN THE prosecution of astronomical studies, it is often desirable to star-gaze from 
positions of high altitude, or scan the nebulae of myriads of stellar groups through 
the most powerful telescopes. To the summit of Pike's Peak, Gray s Peak, Long's 
Peak, or anv of the mountain peaks of Colorado, or to the Lick Observatory in 
California (which has the largest magnifying instrument in the world), or to any inter- 
vening locality. 

The Great Rock Island Route 

Furnishes the best and most popular means of transportation. Between Chicago 
and Denver, Colorado Springs and Pueblo— between Chicago and Council Bluffs 
and Omaha, and between Chicago and St. Joseph and Kansas City, its daily Soled 
Vestibule Express Trains— making quick time over a smooth track— lead all 
competitors in the splendor of their equipment, 
takes pleasure in directing attention to the elegance 
of the Coaches, Dining Cars, Pullman Palace Sleep- 
ers and Free Reclining Chair Cars of which thev 

are composed. They are veritable "homes on wheels;" communicating parlors under 
one continuous roof; impervious to dust, cheerfully lighted, well ventilated, cool in 
summer, and warmed to an equable and pleasant temperature in winter by steam 
from the locomotive. The position of the Rock Island is such that, with associated 
lines, it controls the most desirable avenues of through travel from Chicago to and 
from San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland and all Pacific Coast and intervening points. 

m- ^ ^ ^ m (from his own knowledge and the voluntary testimony 
IMP gy mg '^■L w of others) does not hesitate to assert that as a through 
F^rl^^ %J^^ aL route to the cities, mining camps, sanitary resorts, 
^ ^P^P "^^ ^P mountain parks and scenic splendors of Colorado and 
California, the Rock Island is most decidedly the favorite among all classes of 
travelers. Its daily trains to points in Kansas, Southern Nebraska and Indian Territory 
are similarly favored by the public approval and patronage, while its Solid Express 
Trains to and from Minneapolis and St. Paul via Albert Lea Route, maintain the 
high reputation the}' earned years ago. If you wish to reach any destination (near or 
remote* West, Northwest or Southwest of Chicago, 
advises vou to take the Rock Island Route every 
time. You will then enjoy the conveniences, com- 
and luxuries that system of lines assures its 
patrons at rates uniformly as low as are charged by railways having inferior accom- 
modations. 

For tickets, time tables, maps, folders, copies of the Western Trail (issued monthly), 
or further information, apply in person or by letter to any of the officers or repre- 
sentatives of this road, as follows: 



) reach any destination (near or 



E. ST. JOHN, 

General Manager. 



CHICAGO, 



JOHN SEBASTIAN, 

Gen'l Ticket and Passenger Agent. 



OR 



LINES EAST OF THE MISSOURI RIVER, 



GEO. H. SMITH. Ass't Gen'l Tkt. Agt., Chicago. 

G. L RHODES. As.«'t Gen'l Passg'r Agt., Chicago. 

STEVENS. Gen'l Agt.. 1305 Farnam St.. 

"nnha. Neb., and 5'>7 Broadway, Council 

Bluff-. 1" 

CLAIR, Trav. Agt., 1305 Famam st., 

< Ml! 

A. B. ; KTH, Gen'l East'n Passg'r Agt., 

257 Broadway. New York City. 
D. J. FLYNN. Trav. Passg'r Agt., 257 Broadway, 

York City. 
W. J. LEAHY, Trav. Agt. New York State, 40 

Ex Buffalo. N. Y. 

B. W. THOMPSON, New England Passg'r Agt., 

296 Washington st.. Boston, Mass. 

LEOD, Trav. Passg'r Agt., 2% Wash- 
in trt tan, Mass. 
I. L. L< '< -MIS. Passg'r Agt., Middle District, 111 
8. Ninth st., Philadelphia, Pa. 
\ SHKPPARD. Southeastern Passg'r Agt., 

D. L. CAVEN, Trav. Passg'r Agt. for Ontario, 85 
York Hou^e Block, Toronto, Ont. 

M. P. WASHBURN, Northeastern Passg'r Agt., 
cor. Larned and Griswold sts., Detroit, Mich. 



H. S. PH1LPS, Trav. Passg'r Agt. for Quebec 
and Maritime Provs., 154 St. James st. Mon- 
treal, P. 6. 

JHO. T. SMITH, Northwestern Passg'r Agt., 
Chicago. 

T. J. CLARK, Trav. Agt., Chicago. 

CLINTON JONES, Gen'l Agt,, 36 Montgomery St., 
San Francisco. Cal. 

J. F. FUGAZI. Italian Passg'r Agt., 5 Montgom- 
ery ave., San Francisco, Cal. 

F. W. THOMPSON, Trav. Passg'r Agt., 110 N. 
Spring st,. Los Angeles, Cal. 

CHAS. KENNEDY, Gen'l Agt. Rock Island and 
Albert Lea Routes, 1 Washington st., Port- 
land. Ore. 

ROB'T KEPPLER, Trav. Passg'r Agt., 3 Wash- 
ington st., Portland, Ore. 

A. H. MOFFET.Gen'l Southwestern Passg'r Agt., 
532 Main st. and 1012 Union ave., Kansas 
City. Mo. 

W. H. FIRTH, Trav. Passg'r Agt. for the South- 
west, 532 Main St., Kansas City, Mo. 

W. I. CHEEVER, Passg'r Agt. Cent. Dist., Peo- 
ria, 111. 

WM. RICKEY, Passg'r Agt., Davenport, Iowa. 



LINES WEST OF THE MISSOURI RIVER, 



8. F. BOYD, Ass't Gen'l Tkt. and Passg'r Agt., 

Topeka, Kan. 
C. B. SLOAT, Trav. Passg'r Agt., Topeka, 

Kan. 
O. D. BACON, Gen'l Agt. Passg'r Dep't, 106 N. 

Fourth st., 8t. Louis, Mo. f and Cincinnati, 

Ohio. 
U. 8. G. HOUGH, Trav. Passg'r Agt., 106 N. 

Fourth Bt., St. Louis, Mo. 



A. H. LAWSON, Passg'r Agt., 106 N. Fourth St., 
St. Louis. Mo. 

GEO. L. REPPERT, Trav. Passg'r Agt., St. Jo- 
seph. Mo. 

GEO. F. LEE, Gen'l Agt. Passg'r Dep't, 1664 Law- 
rence St., Denver, Col. 

J. E. OGLESBY, Gen'l Agt. , Salt Lake City, Utah. 

P. P. YOUNG, Trav. Passg'r Agt., Chattanooga. 
Tenn. 



SUNSHINE 



AND 



MOONLIGHT 



WITH, ALSO, 



A Flash of Come'bs, Meteors and Shooting Stars, 
and a Twinkle of Starlight. 



How the Boys and Girls had a Holiday " Outing^at Home 










Of the Great Rock Island Route. 



r 



O u'..\aaMJUL Jt^ 



Respectfully Dedicated to the Boys and Girls of America, by the 
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway. 



CHICAGO : 
Stromberg, Allen & Co., Printers. 
1889. 
&7 



81 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 

J the earth was without form, and void : and darkness was 
upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the 
face of the deep. 

And God said. Let there be light : and there was light. 

And God saw the light that it was good : and God divided the 
light from the darkness. 

And God called the lierht Dav and the darkness he called Xight. 



>-,. 



And God said. Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven 
to divide the day from the night : and let them be for signs, and for 
seasons, and for days and for years : 

And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give 
light upon the earth : and it was so. 

And God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day. 
and the lesser light to rule the night : he made the stars also. 

And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light 
upon the earth. 

And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the 

light from the darkness : and God saw that it was good." — Genesis i. 
• *****« 

"The heavens declare the glory of God. and the firmament 
showeth his handiwork. 

Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth 
knowledge." — Psalm ig: i, 2. 






veritte St. John 



PREFACE 



WITH the approach, again, of the holiday season, come 
thoughts of the little people, and of what can be done to 
make their Christmas any more merry or their New Year any 
more happy. As usual, "A Man" of the Great Rock Island Route 
(though by no means aspiring to rival or supplant the children's truest 
friend — him of the "eight tiny reindeer") brings his little offering to 
his little friends, north, south, east and west, and begs they will 
accept it, with his best wishes for their happiness during not only the 
holiday time, but throughout the coming year. 

In making a rather wide departure from the line of his former 
efforts of this kind, "A Man" trusts that his work will be, at least, no 
less acceptable than has that which has already been offered. It is 
his wish that this little volume, the sixth of the series, may not only 
please and entertain, in a measure, those who may chance to read it, 
but that it may awaken in some of them, at least, a strong desire to 
know more of these things ; that it may lead them to seek a fuller 
knowledge of God's works and ways as shown, not alone in the wonders 
of the heavens, but in the manifold wonders everywhere about us, on 
and in the earth, as well, — for it is literally a "world of wonders." 
"A Man " would have his little books to accomplish something in the 
way of supplanting the trashy and vicious literature, now so freely 
offered to young people, with something far better, by pointing out to 
his young friends some of the paths along which they may most 
pleasantly and profitably travel. 

As with former issues, the indulgence of older and more critical 
readers is asked touching the matters of frequent repetitions, odd 
phraseology, etc., made necessary by the nature of the work; to pre- 
sent the wonderful truths of astronomy so that little folks may under- 
stand them even fairly well, is no light task. The aim has been to 
present elementary facts as plainly as possible. 

With the wish, again, for all my little friends, that they may have, 
this season, another most "Merry Christmas" and most "Happy 
New Year," I remain, as ever, 

Your friend, 






ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 

While making a general acknowledgment of the assistance re- 
ceived from various sources in the preparation of this little book, 
"A Man" would make especial mention of his very great indebted- 
ness to Prof. Lewis Swift, Director of Warner Observatory, Rochester, 
X. V., for most valued assistance, freely tendered, in both the matters 
of the preparation of the text and its illustration; also, in connection 
with the last-mentioned matter, to Messrs. A. S. Barnes & Co., Pub- 
lishers, Xew York, for the privilege of reproducing in these pages a 
number of the most beautiful and valuable illustrations from one 
of their educational text-books— Steele's Astronomy. 




MISS INQUISITIVE' S LETTER AND "A MAN'S" 

SOLILOQUY 

HO! here's a dainty little missive, hidden among 
these other, big letters. I wonder — ah, yes, from 
Miss Inquisitive, I see; one glance at the address 
tells me that. I declare, even her writing wears, 
to me, an inquiring expression, as it were. That 
g, now, is a veritable interrogation point, staring 
at me from the paper exactly as if it is expecting 
an answer, and is not altogether pleased at my delay in giving it. Of 
course, this is all fancy, but anyhow I shall have some fun at her ex- 
pense, in regard to the matter, next time I see her. 

•Well, I wonder what mischief her ladyship has under way, now; 
there's something in hand, I venture to say. I have n't been honored 
with a letter from her since she was engaged in arranging that surprise 
for Ned's birthday; and, by the way, I haven't seen her since that long- 
to-be-remembered occasion — an unusually long time, I declare ! But 
whatever this may mean, I certainly am glad to hear from her, again; 
she's a good girl, with all her pranks and question-asking, and it does 
me good even to hear from her by letter, although I would be much 
more pleased had she delivered her message in person. I wonder what 
she does want, anyhow. I suppose I shall have to grant her request, in 
any case, 'even to the half of my kingdom', as it were, since it is next 
to impossible to prevent myself from agreeing to anything she suggests. 
I must say for her, however, that I never have had to regret such a 
course in the past, for she has as good a little heart as she has a busy 
little head, and none of her plans, mischievous as some of them are, 
occasionally, have in them anything of unpleasantness for anybody; on 
the contrary, they all have in view the giving of pleasure to all con- 
cerned. It is no wonder everybody likes her. I'd like to know just 
what — but, dear me ! I can find out more quickly by opening her letter 
than by turning it over in my hands and reading my name and address 
right and left, and up and down, as I've been doing for five minutes. 
Let's see, then. 

Dear me! sick, is she? Too bad! too bad! Ah, yes — ' 1 'would have been 
in to see you last Saturday, if mamma had not been afraid to let me go.' 
I thought it strange she had n't been here, poor thing ! I knew she had 
n't forgotten me. What's this ? — Hike to have you come over to see me, 
some day soon, as I want to talk- to you about our usual holiday trip.' — 



6 Miss Inquisitive 's Letter and "A Mail's" Soliloquy. 

Oh-h, yes. I had n't thought of that matter, yet; that is why she writes 
to me, eh ?—Ttn afraid— indeed, I know— thai I shall not be able to go 
a ilk you this time. I am not very sick, and do ?iot at all feel as if I need 
be kept in the house; but mamma and papa and old Doctor Pillsbury all 
tell me I must— and so I must. They say it is not because I am so very 
sick now, but it is to prevent me from getting very sick, and of course they 
know more than I do about what sick people should do to get well. So, I 
shall have to stay at home, this time; but I hope the rest of you will have a 
grand good time/— Dear, dear ! what a good little soul she is; I don't be- 
lieve I ever have half appreciated her goodness. But what else does 
she say ?— 'So, please come over, soon, for even if I can't go, I would so 
much like to help plan something for your trip. I don't think I could help 
much in planning the kind of trip to take, or where to go, but perhaps I 
may be able to do something, in some way, to make the trip more pleasant 
for some of you, or all of you, maybe. Do you think I could?"— Do I 
think so ? Well, now, I just do think so— 'Nell and Ned and all the rest, 
I guess, are coming to see me to-morrow, I hear, and I would be so pleased 
to have you here, too. I think, too, it would be a good time to awangefor 
our— I mean your— trip, wherever you may go. So, please come, if you 
can; you may be sure it will please us all, and especially 

Your little friend, 

"Interrogation Point"" 

Did I ever hear the like?— 'Interrogation Point!' I called her that 
over at Ned's, that evening, when she was teasing and puzzling me with 
all kinds of queer questions about the big moon that was shining so 
brightly— poor little thing! 

Well, I must arrange to go over and see her, and meet my other 
young friends, to-morrow. So, I'm to be called upon to head another 
holiday excursion party, it seems. But what in the world shall it be 
like?— where shall we go? I'm sure I don't know, now; but some good 
plan may be thought of, to-morrow. We've been among the oil and 
gas wells; have visited the coal and coke regions, and explored the 
mines; have also been among the iron mines and through the great iron 
and steel works of different kinds, and where to go, this year, is a puz- 
zling question. I think I shall have to throw the matter of arranging for 
our trip upon the youngsters, themselves, as I have done for the last 
two years; the outcome was very satisfactory to all of us, in both those 
instances, and I doubt not would be so in this one, also. We might, 
still ascending the scale of mineral products, next visit the gold and 
silver mines of the far West-the Rocky mountain and Pacific coast 
ns; indeed, that seems to me a pretty good idea. I know all 
would enjoy it, and Miss Inquis-ah, I forget, she couldn't go with 

poor kuI, and without her— dear me, it's too bad! But then, of 
course, she cannot go with us, no matter where we may go; so that 
after all, it would make no difference to her, in one sense, whether we 



The Meeting: Plans and Plans — The One Adopted. 7 

visit Maine or California. But I do wish she could go with us, or 
that we could arrange matters so as to give her a fair share of the 
enjoyment we may find — at least, more than she would be expected to 
have, penned up in her room while all her young friends are hundreds 
of miles away, enjoying all kinds of strange and interesting sights and 
experiences. But what can be done in the matter? Let me see; let — 
me — see. Oh, dear! I'll have to give it up, for the present, I see, and 
trust to the future to have things all come out right. 

Well, I will answer these letters — which I had nearly forgotten — 
and arrange everything so that I shall not have to disappoint the sick 
girl and my other little friends, to-morrow." 



II. 

THE MEETING: PLANS AND PLANS— THE 
ONE ADOPTED. 

''Well, well, this is a fine party, to be sure. — Oh, I'm very well, 
thank you — very well, indeed ; how are you, all ? All well, eh ? — and 
happy, too, it seems. Ah, here's the sick girl — how are you, to-day, 
young lady ? So you're better, to-day; that's good, and I'm glad to hear 
it, you may be sure. You certainly are having a very good time, too, 
for a sick girl, from all appearances. If it were not that you are so 
pale and rather thin, and perhaps just a very little less enthusiastic — 
I won't say boisterous — in your greeting, one would hardly pick you 
out as the sick girl of the party. What? Ha-ha-ha! bad as ever, I 
declare. I was wondering, on my way over, whether your sickness had 
affected your query-box, but it has n't, I see. It's my opinion that it will 
be a very severe sickness that will stop the flow of your questions, and 
I shall be really alarmed when such a point is reached; as it is, I have no 
present fears. But, jesting aside, I am sorry to find you sick, at all; but 
at the same time very glad, indeed, to find your sickness no more seri- 
ous than this — and as you tell me, find you better, to-day, than you have 
been. I have no doubt you are feeling better than you otherwise would 
on account of the presence of this jolly crowd; one could really afford to 
be just a little sick, if necessary, for the sake of the fun to be had from 
such a company as this. 

By the way, Ned, how are you and Tom succeeding with your per- 
petual motion machine? Ha, ha! — just one or two little things needed 
yet, eh ? Well, I sincerely trust you will find them; if you do, fame and 
fortune will certainly be yours, as these one or two little things have 
been anxiously hunted for by the great multitude of inventors who have 



8 The Meeting: Plans and Plans— The One Adopled. 

puzzled their brains over the matter, before you took it up. But 
hammer away, no harm can come of it, anyway, and you may gain 
some valuable practical knowledge of mechanics. Who knows but 
that, as the outcome of your present struggle, the world may be 
astonished, somewhere in coming years, by some wonderful and valu- 
able inventions. You haven't forgotten Watt and the tea-kettle, I'm 
sure. So, work away; you might be far more poorly employed. 

Say, Nell, how are you getting along with that pair — Oh, my! did n't 
I nearly let out a secret ? I forgot about the necessity for keeping cer- 
tain things quiet at this time of the year. However, I'll try to keep my 
tongue still, hereafter — or, at least, not point it in your direction again. 

How is mamma, Bess ? — and little ' Blossom'? And how are all the 
mammas and papas and wee people? Glad to.hear it; everybody is 
well, it seems, but this poor girl, here, — but who, I am compelled to 
say, doesn't seem to be suffering much at this particular time. 

What were you doing when I was coming up the steps ? Such a 
tumult of shouts and laughter I have n't heard since we were all over at 
Ned's. Another of Joe's puns ? We'll have to do something with that 
young gentleman, I'm afraid; he's getting entirely too bright for the 
rest of us. We must suppress him, and that soon, too, in self-defense. 

Well, what is the programme for this afternoon? — blind-man's buff to 
begin with, I suppose, with me for the first blind-man, as usual. Then, 
I suppose, — Oho! Miss Inquisitive has been putting mischief into your 
heads, I see; she's not too sick to do that, it seems. So, excursion is 
the only cry— no one seems to care for games, strange to say. I sup- 
pose, then, I may as well fall right in with your demands; many former 
experiences have taught me the wisdom of doing so without a murmur. 
Now, what have you to propose? — Nothing! well, you are a bright set of 
youngsters, to be sure ! Do you call it fair now, I want to ask, to invite 
me to help you do something and then as much as tell me I must do it 
all myself? — and then add insult to injury by laughing uproariously at 
my protest against such ill-usage ! I would consider myself very badly 
treated if I did n't know the party so well. So, it seems, you stand pre- 
cisely where you have stood a number of times before, knowing very 
well, indeed, that you want to go on a holiday trip, but having not even 
the faintest idea as to where you want to go — a very interesting but not 
very satisfactory state of affairs, I must say. 

Under such circumstances, I propose to do exactly as I did last year, 
and the year before— let you hunt up a plan, yourselves. No doubt you 
all recollect how I put you to work, and kept you thinking as hard as 
you knew how until, through Miss Inquisitive's unexpected — and at the 
time, utterly out-of-place questions — we were led to the adoption of the 
right plan, as it proved, in each instance; so, just get to work again and 
rack your brains, if need be, in your efforts to hit upon what will suit 
us most in the matter of this year's trip. I will say at the outset that 
I am very sorry that,— as you are all aware, no doubt, — Miss Inquisitive 



The Meeting: Plans and Plans — The One Adopted. g 

cannot leave home, and, of course, cannot be with us on our trip. Now, 
my idea of the best plan is, one that shall in some way include our sick 
member in its pleasures and benefits — just how, we shall have to decide. 
Even if we have to give up the idea of going — Now, Miss, you just keep 
quiet — it isn't good for sick people to talk too much, you know; we'll 
have our own way, this time — if only we can find out just what it is.. 
Well, we are now ready to listen to anyone who has a plan to offer — 
and I promise an extra box of your own selection of Christmas candy 
to the one who presents the plan which we shall adopt. To work, then, 
all the rest of you, while I have a little talk with the sick girl, who is 
excused from work, this time. 

Now, young lady, what ails you, anyway? — been trying to bottle 
up some questions instead of asking them, just to see whether you 
could do it, and now find yourself sick as the result? — Oh, a severe 
cold, is it ? I am glad it is nothing necessarily serious or alarming, but 
something from which, with the care you are receiving, we may hope 
to have you speedily recover. 

Well, Nell, you're first, anyway ; what have you to propose ? — A 
pretty good idea, young lady, I must say. There is certainly much of 
interest to be seen in the various kinds of mills and factories which we 
have never yet visited, here at home; and, besides, Miss Inquisitive 
might be able to be with us at least a part of the time. 

What ! Tom, have you a plan, too ? I thought you were doing 
some extra deep thinking. What is it, then ? — Ha-ha ! — an original idea, 
surely; no wonder it caused such a shout. A Christmas excursion to 
the Mammoth Cave, on the Fourth of July, would certainly possess a 
large degree of novelty to say the least; while the idea of such a post- 
ponement of our trip, on Miss Inquisitive's account, speaks much for 
your kindness of heart. The trip itself would no doubt be a pleasant 
one, and we might reasonably hope for Miss Inquisitive's presence on 
that occasion. We'll consider the suggestion, anyway, Tom. Bess, 
you make a list of the plans as offered. 

Ha-ha-ha! a seasonable suggestion, Ned, very, and quite as novel 
as Tom's. A trip to the north pole, or at least in that direction, instead 
of to the Mammoth Cave, in midsummer, might be more to the taste 
of some of you, I'll admit. — There, there, Joe, that will do, sir; I fancy 
your joke will throw a chill over the meeting more piercing than Ned's 
suggestion has. Anyway, you seem to stand very greatly in need of some- 
thing of the kind, to check the growth of your budding genius in a 
certain direction. We are ready, now, for plan No. 4 — and as no one 
seems to have it ready to offer, I will take up my talk with the sick girl; 
when you're ready, let me hear from you. 

Now, young lady, let us see if we can steal a few minutes' talk, 
again. — Dear me ! have you another lot of moon-questions to ask me? 
I must say that when once you get fairly started upon a subject you 
know no rest until you have gone to the bottom of it — or the top of it, as 



io The Meeting: Plans and Plans — The One Adopted, 

the case may be. What an odd question — how thick is the moon? 
Still, since I think of it, it is quite a natural question, after all, viewing 
the moon as it seems you have always viewed it — simply as around, flat 
object. The moon, however, is not a flat thing, as it appears when we 
look at it, but is round like this ball — as our earth itself is, you know. So, 
you see, we cannot speak of the moon as being thick, like a cheese or a 
grindstone, but we would speak of its diameter or distance through the 
center, just as we speak of the earth's diameter. So — How do I know 
it is round ? Now, there you go, again, as naturally as ever — one ques- 
tion on top of another ! Why if I should n't object, you would run right 
on. I'm pretty sure, skipping nimbly from one point to another, until I 
should have been dragged all over the field of moon knowledge — new 
moons, quarters, full moons, tides, eclipses, etc. — Oh, dear me, child ! 
I could n't do all that; would n't have time for that alone, not to mention 
the other and very important matter which we have on hand, just now. — 
Some evening ? Ye-es, I think I might — only it will take several evenings 
to tell all you would want to know, and — Ah, I have it! — I have it! 
Here youngsters, all of you, I have a plan to offer, — No. 4 on your list, 
Bess, — and you can then go to work, again, thinking up others. 

How would you like to take a trip to the moon, taking Miss Inquis- 
itive w 1 h us? Now, what am I to understand by such a startling 
'Oh-h-L .'as that, from all of you? Does it mean 'Oh, yes, or 'Oh, no'? — 
Do I mean it? Why, to be sure — in a kind of way: and the voyage 
would be neither so chilly nor dangerous as a trip to the pole. No, Tom, 
not in a balloon or air ship; we'll go — in case we decide to do so, at all — 
well go in this room of Miss Inquisitive's which, besides being much 
more cozy and comfortable than an air ship, is a considerably safer 
vessel, inasmuch as we shall remain securely anchored here in this yard 
while making our voyage. Hold — hold ! not more than four or five at a 
time, if you please. Now, if you'll all keep quiet long enough — not a 
single question to be asked — I'll tell you what I mean. 

To begin with, I must state that I do not mean that we shall actually 
go to the moon — that, as some of you may know, is impossible. What I 
have in mind, however, is this: Instead of going away from home, as has 
been our custom for several years, I would suggest — mind, I only sug- 
gest it, and you can do as you please about it — I would suggest that, 
since Miss Inquisitive cannot leave her home, we gather here in her 
room in the evenings, and have some talks about the moon, and pos- 
sibly, about some of the other heavenly bodies, as the sun, moon, stars, 
etc., are called. I think I can say for our sick girl, that this would be, 
to her, an especially enjoyable arrangement, indeed; as, first, she would 
have you all here with her so often, and, secondly, she would have an 
opportunity to learn a little more, perhaps, about a subject which, I 
happen to know, has been interesting her very much ever since the 
night of our party at Tom's. Of course, she and all of you will learn 
much more about the matters of which I might speak, when you are 



The Meeting: Plans and Plans — The One Adopted. n 

older and take up the study of astronomy, — as the science of the stars, 
etc., is called; but it will do no harm to talk about them now, and may 
even do some good, as I have found, in my own experience, that many 
things learned in this or some similar way have been better learned — 
that is, have been more easily, fully and clearly understood, and so are 
more likely to be always remembered — than when learned in the man- 
ner in which things are too often learned at school. 

Now, I have given you my plan, in a general way; we are ready for 
others to be offered, and when all are in we will vote upon them to de 
cide which shall be adopted. I said my plan, but I must take that back 
and waive all claims to it, and give the credit to Miss Inquisitive, who 
really brought it out by her ques — Oh, yes, you did, ma'am, and you 
mustn't try to deny it. Now, who's ready with another plan ? 

What ! — all in favor of the moon trip ! Don't you want to go to the 
Mammoth Cave, Tom ? — nor you, Ned, to the north pole? Well, it seems 
that the matter has been settled in short order. To Miss Inquisitive, 
then, belongs the credit for suggesting our plan of operations for three 
successive years. And I'm sure you all like her too much to be the 
least bit jealous about the matter; while as for the young lady, herself, 
she will wear her increasing honors very lightly, I'm sure, and will not 
become too proud to look at or speak to the rest of us who have never 
gained such distinction. And I will take this opportunity to say for her, 
further", that, while I am sure she will be highly delighted with the 
carrying out of the plan we have just adopted, she would, in her real 
unselfishness, prefer that we should adopt some other plan which would 
give all the rest of us our customary excursion. Indeed, she wrote me, 
only yesterday, in regard to the matter, saying she would be unable to 
go with us on our trip, but seeming very anxious that the rest of us 
should go and should have a splendid time. Oh, she's as kind-hearted 
as she is — ahem ! — is inquisitive; that's saying a great deal for her kind- 
heartedness, isn't it, now ? 

Well, now that this matter is settled, I must be off. We will meet 
here Christmas afternoon to begin our astronomical talks, — there's a 
good big word for you to hunt up in your new dictionary, Ned. In the 
meantime, I will map out some kind of plan of operations. Well, good 
by, young lady, — take good care of yourself, mind; good by, all of you, 
good by — good by !" 



III. 

A CHRISTMAS PARTY WHERE LITTLE PEOPLE 
DEAL WITH BIG SUBJECTS. 

''Merry Christmas, youngsters! merry Christmas, to all of you!— 
and especially to you, Miss Inquisitive, who are supposed to be more 
particularly in need of good cheer. It seems to me, however, that you 
are to be considered, in many respects, the most fortunate one among 
us. I trust you all have most fully enjoyed the day; that it has brought 
to you showers of presents and pleasures. — Oh, don't mention that, 
please; you deserved it, anyway. And, by the way, I must tell you 
about something very useful and beautiful which in some most myste- 
rious way crept into my room while I was out yesterday, or last night, 
and was found by me, this morning. — Oh, yes; I have an idea — and a 
very correct one, I think — as to where it came from, if not as to how it 
got into the place in which it was found. But while I have my suspi- 
cions as to who are concerned in the matter, I shall keep quiet, and some 
day one of the guilty persons may confess or may accidentally let the 
secret out. By that time I may be ready to forgive them, as, to tell the 
truth, I am really very much pleased with the article found, and in the 
meantime shall make good use of it, — here it is, you see. — Oh, yes, in- 
deed, its very handsome; did any of you ever see anything just like it — 
exactly like it? H-m-m, yes — I supposed some of you had, likely. 

Much better, to-day, are you, young lady? Well, I don't wonder 
at it, at all; why, I feel so myself, although I am sure I was perfectly 
well, before I came in. Queer, is n't it ? And as for the rest of you, if 
you are not perfectly well and happy, too, this afternoon, your faces 
do not tell the truth about your feelings. — Come, now, Joe, no joking 
about such matters, sir; we'll get nothing done if you keep up such an 
uproar with your smart remarks. 

Attention, everybody! I suppose we are to begin our talks, this 
afternoon, according to agreement; if so, we must get to work, at once. 
I will, by virtue of age and size, lay claim to, and take possession of, this 
big easy chair, and try to fill it; the sick girl, here, by virtue of her many 
claims, in addition to her illness, shall occupy the seat of honor, here; 
and the rest of you — well, we'll let you do as the lesser politicians have 
to do under somewhat similar circumstances — take what is left and 
make the best of it. However, there is no especial hardship about the 
matter, in this case; so gather around us, here, to suit yourselves, and 
we'll see what is to be done. 

Since our last meeting, here, I have been giving some thought, 



Christmas Party where Little People deal with Big Subjects. 13 

according to promise, to the matter of a plan of procedure, trying to 
decide upon what points should be considered, in what order, etc.; but 
I have not succeeded in this very much to my own satisfaction, as it is 
by no means an easy task, I assure you. So, I have given up the idea 
of following any set plan — since I have not been able to arrange one — 
and while I shall keep in mind some of the principal points to be spo- 
ken of, and shall try to introduce them in some kind of order, we shall 
let others take their turn just as they happen to present themselves by 
reason of your questions, or otherwise. 

I should state, at the outset, that the science of astronomy, as we 
term the study of the sun, moon, stars and other heavenly bodies, is 
probably the oldest of all sciences. From the earliest times man has 
studied these bodies and their movements, the ancient Egyptians, 
Chaldeans and other peoples being great astronomers in their day, 
though knowing little as compared with the knowledge we have, to-day, 
touching these matters. It is, indeed, only within the last three or 
four hundred years that the great truths of astronomy have been dis- 
covered and given to the world by such men as Copernicus, Kepler, 
Galileo, Newton, Herschel and others, down to the many illustrious 
names of the present day, — though we are indebted to the ancient 
astronomers, of course, for the valuable beginning they made for us. 
At the present day, the astronomer enjoys advantages of which earlier 
students of the heavens neither knew nor dreamed. Buildings known 
as observatories are prepared for the especial use of astronomers, 
within which are to be found many valuable and curious instruments 
designed to aid them in their great work, the principal one being one 
or more telescopes of great size and power, which apparently bring the 
far distant bodies to within a short distance of the observer, and enable 
him to see what could never be seen by the eye alone, besides which 
there are various instruments, most accurately constructed, used to 
make various measurements, etc. 

While it was about the moon in particular that Miss Inquisitive 
wanted to know so many things, I have concluded to first give you some 
information in regard to the sun, as being the more important body — 
although it may be that some of you share the opinion of the man who 
gave more credit to the moon because, as he argued, it gives us light at 
night, when we need it, while the sun gives us light by day, when we 
have plenty of light without it. — Your idea, too, is it, Joe? Ha-ha ! you'll 
find the laugh is against you, for once, young man, when we get a little 
further along in our talk. Yes, the sun — Joe and the man of the story 
to the contrary, notwithstanding, as the lawyers say — the sun is of much 
greater relative importance than the moon, it being, indeed, the center 
of the whole solar system, as we — Yes — yes — yes! I'll explain, if you'll 
give me a chance. To tell the truth, I should have begun with an ex- 
planation of what is meant by the solar system, before taking up the 
sun, moon or other members of that system; so, we will start again. 




GENERAL VIEW OF INSIDE OF OBSERVATORY, 



Christmas Party where Little People deal with Big Subjects. . 15 

The solar system is — now, how shall I go to work to explain this to 
you youngsters? It's a rather large subject, you'll discover, and you'll 
have to put everything else out of your heads, for the time, in order to 
get it all in comfortably and in good order, — for you will find, too, that 
it is very important that order be observed in the solar system, even in 
our minds. 

I'll start again. You all know that the earth — the world in which 
or on which we live — is a round body — a large body, too, being, as some 
of you could tell me, about 25,000 miles in circumference, or the distance 
around it, and about 8,000 miles in diameter, or the distance through 
its center. Now, the solar system as it is termed is made up of a num- 
ber of great round bodies — other worlds they are — like our earth, all 
constantly moving around the sun. The Latin name for sun is sol, from 
which we get the word solar, meaning relating to or belonging to the 
sun, or sol. Now, the sun, earth and these other bodies of which I have 
spoken, taken together, form a system of worlds; and as all the others 
move around the sun and have their movements controlled by it, and 
get their light and heat from it, the whole system of bodies is called the 
solar system — that is, the system of the sun. I will only mention, here, 
that the thousands of stars which we can easily see, and the almost 
countless thousands which we can see only by the use of powerful tel- 
escopes, so far away are they, are also great suns, each forming a part 
of almost countless other systems like the one to which our sun and 
world belong. 

To return to our system, again, I will say that of the other worlds 
belonging to it some are smaller than our earth, while some of them are 
much larger — many times larger, indeed. — Oh, no, Joe, there's no 
mistake about that ; I have the best of authority for that statement — 
even if you never have seen any other world larger than this one. 
However, I'm pretty sure you have seen several of them. — Sure you 
never did, eh? Ha-ha! next to your weakness for puns and jokes, 
your distinguishing trait is your stick-to-it quality in the matter 
of- an opinion — not a bad quality, perhaps, provided you always retain 
your perfect willingness to surrender when you find there is no use 
to argue any longer. I think you have seen some of these other 
bodies belonging to the solar system, though, of course, not knowing 
they belonged to it ; and if you will go to the window with me, 
after the stars have come out, I may be able to point out one or 
two of these worlds so that you can recognize them and be able 
to point them out, hereafter, to other persons. — Oh, no, not all of 
the stars; they are, indeed, all suns or worlds, as I have already told you, 
but only a few of ail we can see belong to our system of worlds, — the solar 
system. These few other worlds which belong to our system we call 
planets. 

Little things? No, indeed; some of them, as I told you a moment 
ago, are very many times larger than our own world. The reason they 



16 Christmas Party where Little People deal with Big Subjects. 

appear so sin all to us — mere bright specks in the sky — is, they are so 
far away— millions upon millions of miles out in space. — Oh, dear me! 
M iss Inquisitive, that's a dreadful question you're asking: What is space? 
Why, space is — is — I wish you would n't ask such questions, young lady 
— space is — well, it is room; that's Webster's definition, I believe, and 
I'm entirely too modest, you know, to think myself able to improve up- 
on his work. By room, as used in this definition, we mean the space in 
which— ha-ha-ha, you certainly have caught me, Ned; to tell you that 
space is room, and then to try to explain that by saying room is space, 
certainly is 'coming out at about the same place at which I started in.' 
Well, I'll try it again. 

Let us suppose that we should take a balloon or an air ship and sail 
away from the earth, say, a thousand miles. It is utterly impossible 
for us or anybody else to do this, I should tell you; but we will suppose 
that we can do it — that we have done it; that we have left the earth and 
sailed away through the air, beyond the clouds, and still on and on, un- 
til we are now a thousand miles or more from our homes on the earth. 
What would surround us ? We would be floating in — what ? No, not 
air; I was expecting such an answer, however, though thinking it possi- 
ble some of you might catch the thought I had in mind. Your answer 
is a very natural one, but a wrong one, however. There would not be 
air about us, there, as there is here upon the earth, or close to it. The 
air, or atmosphere, which we breathe and which is everywhere on the 
earth, extends upward or outward from the earth only a short distance, 
comparatively; it completely surrounds the earth, of course, in a layer 
which according to some learned men, is less than 50 miles in thick- 
ness, — that is, in height above the earth's surface, — while by others it 
is thought to be perhaps as much as 500 miles in thickness, or height. 
But beyond this limit, whether it be 50 or 500 miles, there is no air; so, 
out where we are in our balloon, as we are supposing, and extending 
still beyond and around us, on and on endlessly, boundlessly, there is a 
great void or emptiness, and it is this vast emptiness that is called 
space. I have called it a vast emptiness, but it is not so, strictly 
speaking, since it contains, though separated each from each by 
immense distances, thousands, yes, millions, of worlds ! — our own 
world and the others which belong to the solar system, and the 
countless number known to us as the stars. Yet it is, for the most 
part, emptiness, as we view it; for, while fairly swarming with 
worlds, these each occupy but a small part of it, with a great 'ex- 
panse of this emptiness — millions upon millions of miles — lying between 
them. Yes, they do appear to be very close together, Ned, as we look 
at them on a clear, beautiful night, but this apparent closeness is due 
to their wonderful distance from us; if we could visit them, passing from 
one to the other, you would soon discover how greatly mistaken you are 
in supposing them close to each other. The fact is this, that while the 
distance of all is so great that they appear to be side by side in the 



Christmas Party where Little People deal with Big Subjects. 17 

heavens, they are separated by immense distances from each other, not 
only to the right or left, or above or below, as we view them, but some 
of them are many billions and others trillions of miles beyond, or as we 
may say, back of, the others ! — Big figures, indeed, Ned, — much more 
astonishing than what we considered big figures in regard to oil or coal 
or iron and steel. Indeed, the distances with which astronomers must 
deal are quite beyond the power of our minds to grasp or understand; 
we can speak of stars as being trillions of miles away from us, but our 
poor little minds cannot grasp the idea of such distances; we cannot 
understand what it means, — we can only wonder. We would realize 
more fully — or, at least, to a slight degree, I will say — the vastness of 
space, and the distances of these worlds, the stars, from us, should we, 
first viewing them with our unaided eyes, immediately view them 
through a number of great telescopes, each of greater power than the 
one before it. From the 5,000 or 6,000 which those of us with good eyes 
could see, at the outset, the number would increase rapidly, as each 
telescope by its greater power would bring to view yet more distant 
ones, until we should be astounded at their number. And yet, there 
are others, countless numbers, it may be, still out of reach of even the 
most powerful telescope yet made; what appear to be but fleecy clouds, 
as viewed through even powerful telescopes prove, by the use of yet more 
powerful telescopes, to be stars in numbers almost beyond belief; and 
with instruments better yet than those we now have, we may expect 
ever increasing reason for wonder ! And marvelous to add, for each 
star thus seen there are probably many more, close to it, which can- 
not be seen. Astronomers tell us that each of these far distant 
bodies — millions of them — must be a sun like our sun, and probably 
has revolving around it a number of worlds like our own, but which 
cannot be seen at all. The great universe, then, we are to believe, is 
made up of countless systems of suns, with their accompanying 
worlds, similar to our own solar system. Well might the Psalmist 
exclaim, in wonder : 'What is man, that thou [God] art mindful of 
him ? ' As for our world, big as we think it is, it is, after all, but a 
speck in the great universe. 

When we attempt to picture all this in our minds — to comprehend 
the vastness of God's great universe — we find ourselves utterly unable 
to do so, and we are forced to see and realize our own littleness. 
Nothing, indeed, can give us so exalted an idea of the power and 
wisdom of God, — and of our own littleness, in comparison — as the 
thought, so far as we are able to entertain it, of the vastness of 
God's creation — of the universe. We are lost, at the very outset, 
in our attempt to measure space ; like eternity, it is without measure 
or limit, boundless, unending — something beyond our power of thought. 
When we think, then, of this vastness — space — as fairly swarming 
with great worlds, not hundreds or thousands, but millions, of them, 
we can only stand in wonder and amazement at the power of Him 



i8 Christmas Party where Little People deal with Big Subjects. 

who made all these worlds ' in the beginning'; but when we further 
consider that all these worlds are constantly in motion, flying through 
space with astonishing speed, the thought of the wonderful power dis- 
played in their creation is almost overshadowed by thoughts of the 
wisdom which has given to each of these worlds its own place in space, 
and has so ordered its course and movements that through all the 
centuries not one has wandered from its path or brought disaster to 
another ! Such power and wisdom are far beyond the conception of 
human minds. Mitchel, the great American astronomer and geogra- 
pher, as also gallant soldier, whose studies made him familiar, in a 
sense, with the wonders of the universe, in speaking of the existence, 
power and wisdom of God, as contrasted with man's weakness, would 
illustrate thus : Suppose that even the wisest of men should have 
placed at his command all these worlds, — or, we may even suppose 
that he has had power to create them all, — how utterly dismayed and 
lost would he be, with only his human wisdom to aid him, at even the 
thought of placing this countless multitude of worlds in space, ap- 
pointing each its course and setting each in motion so that through 
all time they should go on unfailingly, unerringly, in perfect harmony, 
as now they do ! Well might he shrink at the very thought of such 
a task !* Only divine wisdom can direct and control, as only divine 
power has created, the universe. 

Ah, yes, I've been looking for that question, young lady, — what 
holds up the earth and all these other worlds ? That's another of your 
questions of the more-easily-asked-than-answered kind, I must say. 
However, it must be answered, in some way, and I'll do my best to 
help you to understand the matter. — Oh, no, Bess, not like a feather- 
by the air ; that would be impossible. You see, in the first place, the 
earth is so much heavier than the air that it could not float in it, like a 
feather ; and then, again, the air which, as I told you a moment ago, 
surrounds the earth in a layer, is really to be considered a part of the 
earth itself, as it goes with it in its journey through space. If we were 
to suppose the earth is upheld by the air, we would next have to ask — 
what upholds the air ? and then, again, what upholds this ? and so on, 
without end. Some people, living hundreds of years ago, solved this 

* " Let a power be delegated to a finite spirit equal to the projection of the 
most ponderous planet in its orbit, and, from an exhaustless magazine, let this 
spirit select his grand central orb. Let him with puissant arm locate it in space, 
and, obedient to his mandate, there let it remain forever fixed. He proceeds to 
-<lcct his planetary globes, which lie is now required to marshal in their appro- 
priate order ot distance from the sun. Heed well this distribution; for should a 
single globe be misplaced, the divine harmony is destroyed forever. Let us admit 
that finite intelligence may at length determine the order of combination: the 
mighty host i- arranged in order. These worlds, like fiery eoursers, stand waiting 
the command to fly. Hut. mighty spirit, heed well the grand step, ponder well 
the direction in which thou wilt launch each waiting world; weigh well the mighty 
Impulse soon to be given; for out of the myriads of directions, and the myriads of 
Impulsive forces, there comes but a single combination that will secure'the per- 
petuity of your complex scheme. In vain doesthe bewildered finite spirit attempt 
to fathom this mighty depth. In vain does it attempt to resolve the stupendous 
problem. It turn^ away, and while endued with omnipotent power exclaims, 
'Give to me infinite wisdom, or relieve me from the impossible task!' "—Mitchel. 



Christmas Party where Little People deal with Big Subjects, ig 

puzzling problem of how the world is upheld — solved it to their own 
satisfaction, at least — by supposing that it rested upon the back of a 
great turtle, — and they probably did n't trouble themselves with the 
question Miss Inquisitive would have asked, had she been living then, 
on what does the turtle rest ? But the world is wiser now, and we 
know that our world is upheld, as are all the worlds of the universe, 



THE EARTH IN SPACE. 

by God who created it and them— by His power alone, as shown in 
His great law known as the Law of Gravitation. Until the existence 
of this most wonderful law was discovered, by the great English 
philosopher and astronomer, Sir Isaac Newton, in 1666, the question 
Miss Inquisitive has asked — what holds up the world? — was an 
unanswered and an unanswerable one; since this law has become 



20 Christmas Party where Little People deal with Big Subjects. 

known, however, this question, with other once puzzling ones, can be 
answered, at least, in a general way. 

I will try to explain the matter of this law of gravitation and its 
workings in the upholding of all the worlds in the universe. The law, 
in general terms, is this : Each particle of matter in the universe 
attracts, or draws toward it, every other particle of matter in the 
universe, with a force in proportion to its mass and its distance. In 
other words, the smallest particle of anything which helps to make up 
this world — the finest grain of sand, for instance — attracts, or draws 
toward it, every other particle, and, on the other hand, every other 
particle attracts the grain of sand — or whatever else it maybe — to it; the 
grain of sand, then, attracts the whole earth to it, and the whole earth, 
in turn, attracts the grain of sand. The same is true of all bodies on 
the earth — rocks, houses, animals, even ourselves. We attract the 
earth to us, and the earth attracts us to it, but the earth attracts us as 
much more than we attract it as its mass — or weight, I'll say — is 
greater than ours. As the earth's mass is so very much greater than 
our own, you can see that the earth draws us to it with very great 
force or power. It is this very force with which»we are attracted to 
the earth which keeps us, as also all other objects, upon it — holds us, 
as it were, fast to it. If this attraction should cease, we would fall or 
fly off from its surface, through the air, and away off into space. You 
can understand, then, how important, as well as wonderful, is this law 
of gravitation. When Ned or Tom, here, tries how high he can throw 
his ball, it goes up and up, until he feels quite proud of his strength 
and skill in throwing ; but pretty soon the ball stops its upward flight, 
and in a moment falls back to the ground. He could make a very much 
higher throw, indeed, if he could cause the law of gravitation to cease 
to act between the earth and his ball — in which event the ball would 
never come back. As it is, however, the moment the ball leaves his 
hand and starts upward, the earth begins to pull it back with a force 
which soon overcomes the force with which he threw it, and shortly 
stops it and brings it back again. 

Not only are all objects upon the earth thus drawn and held 
together by this law, but the same law reaches out through all space 
and takes in all the worlds in the great universe. Our earth constantly 
attracts all these other worlds, even the most distant, while all of 
them, in turn, constantly attract the earth ; in short, each and every 
world attracts each and every other world with a force in proportion 
to the mass and distance of each. In our system — the solar system — 
the sun is the great center of this attraction, and attracts the earth 
.Hid all the other bodies belonging to the system with great power; 
at the same time, the earth and all of these other bodies, attract 
the sun and each other, but with much less power than that with 
which the sun attracts them ; still further, all these bodies of our 
system are at the same time attracting, and being attracted by, all the 



The Solar System: — The Planets. 21 

great multitude of worlds throughout the universe, as I have already 
told you. The result of this attraction of world upon world is to hold 
each in its proper position in space, as it goes flying along the course 
appointed for it, —and thus, Miss Inquisitive, our world, with all the 
others, is upheld. To borrow the illustration of another, we can 
understand how the earth is upheld in space if we imagine the sun 
letting down a huge cable, and every star or world in the heavens a 
cord or thread, to hold the earth in its place, while the earth in return 
sends back a cord to every one, to help hold them in place. And so 
we can imagine a cord from each world running to each and every 
other world, and receiving one from it ; these countless cords, which 
of course are there only in our imagination, represent the attraction 
existing between the worlds by reason of the great law of gravitation 
— a beautiful law, too, you will agree, as well as an important and 
wonderful one ! 

But, dear me, how far we have wandered from the matter we had 
intended to consider ! Let us see if we can find the starting point, 
again." 



IV. 
THE SOLAR SYSTEM:— THE PLANETS. 

" I had last begun, I believe, to tell you something concerning the 
solar system, to which our world belongs, and was led away off from 
that by Miss Inquisitive's big questions ; we will, then, take up this 
subject, again, and consider it briefly as possible, before we speak of 
the sun, in particular. 

The solar system, then, consists of the sun, which is the principal 
body belonging to it, and is the center of the system ; eight large 
worlds, ox planets, as we call them, with the moons which belong to 
some of them ; a large number of very small planets ; also, comets , 
meteors or shooting stars, and what is known as the zodiacal light. 
The sun is at the center of the system, our earth and the other 
planets circling round and round it through space, year after year, 
being held in their proper courses around it by the very great power 
with which, on account of its immense size, it attracts them. Of the 
planets, three are smaller than the earth, while the other four are 
very much larger. They all are at different distances from the sun, 
two of them being nearer to it than our earth, and five farther 
from it. All are round bodies like our earth, and all are constantly 
in motion around the sun, as I have already stated, and if we could be 
stationed, as we supposed, awhile ago, a thousand miles or so away 
from the earth, we should see our big round world, with everything 



22 



The Solar System: — The Planets. 



upon it, and the clouds in the air around it, whirling along through 
space, in this journey around the sun, at what would seem to us a 
frightful rate of speed — no less, indeed, than 1,100 miles a minute! 
Aha! I thought that would bring out the 'Oh-h-h's.' Well, you see 
the earth has a long trip to make in going around the sun — nearly 
600,000,000 miles — and it has just a year in which to do it, and so 




COMPARATIVE SIZE OF THE PLANETS. 



it must keep moving at this rate. It is this complete circuit made by 
our earth around the sun which makes a year — about 365^ days, as 
you know. I have spoken of the earth as going around in a circle, 
but this is not exactly the fact. The course of the earth in its yearly 
journey is not a perfect circle, but what is called an ellipse -ox, as I 
may term it, a circle slightly flattened. Here, I'll draw an ellipse, so 
you will understand some points of which I want to speak. There it 



The Solar System: — The Planets. 



23 



is, you see, — and each of the other planets of our system, as well as 
our earth, follows a similar course. If I were to draw one here for 
each, two would go inside of this one I have made as the earth's, and 
five go outside of it. The sun, I should state, is not just in the center 
of the ellipse, but a little to one side of it. I'll mark the place where 
it is — thus ; and to finish the matter, I'll show the earth, say, just here. 
Of course there is no real line or path for the earth or planets in 
space, but they do,- however, go around and around in the same 
general course, iust as if there were actual paths there. Now the 




/ \ 



f V 1 



earth's course around the sun — its orbit, it is called — is, as I have said, 
about 600,000,000 miles in extent — a distance too great for us to com- 
prehend, but over which we travel, every year ; we may claim to be 
great travelers, you see, without ever leaving home. You can see that 
the earth is sometimes farther away from the sun than it is at other 
times, while making its wonderful journey. Its average distance is 
about 92,500,000 miles from the sun, but we are about 3,000,000 
miles nearer when at the nearest point, here at the left, than when 
away over here, at the right. When the earth is away out here, 
moving away from the sun, it moves more slowly, since the 



24 The Solar System: — The Planets. 

attraction of the sun is pulling it back ; but after it makes the turn, 
and starts toward the sun again, its speed increases as the attraction 
becomes greater until it has made the turn here, again, and again 
moves from the sun ; the average speed, however, is what I told you, 
a moment ago. Oddly enough, at the time when we are the closest to 
the sun we are having our coldest weather — our winter ; but this 
seemingly strange condition of things is due to the fact that our part 
of the earth is not turned so fairly to the sun at that time — for a 
reason you will learn, some time- -as it is when we are having our 
summer. However, the people who live in South America, Africa 
and Australia are having their summer, at this time, their part of the 
earth being fairly turned toward the sun, and they receive the benefit 
of the greater nearness of the sun, their summer being much hotter 
than ours. I should add that our earth travels in its orbit, as, also, 
do all the planets from right to left, or in the opposite direction to 
that of the hands of a clock or watch. 

Here, I will make a picture showing the earth in some of its posi- 
tions in the course of its yearly passage around the sun. Our earth, 
at this time of the year, is just about where it is shown here at the 
top of the picture, at December 21st, — that being the date, each 
year, at which the sun rises and sets farthest south, or, in other words, 
at which our part of the earth — the part north of the equator — is 
turned so that it faces the sun the least fairly, and therefore feels his 
heat the least; this point in our yearly path is called the winter solstice, 
and the date, December 21st, is the beginning of our winter, as counted 
by astronomers. From this point on, as the earth constantly moves 
forward, toward the left, along its path, our part of the earth is 
brought day after day, and week after week, to face the sun more 
fairly. On December 31st — ten days later than the point of winter 
solstice — the earth reaches the point in her path at which it is actually 
closest to the sun, or in perihelion, as it is called, a point from which 
it is just now but about four days distant, as you can see. 

As the earth passes on along its course through January and Feb- 
ruary and into March, we continue to face the sun more fairly, day 
after day, as I have said, and on March 21st or 22d — the exact time vary- 
ing slightly, year after year — it will have reached the point at which the 
sun shines directly upon the equator, and to an equal distance north 
and south of it, this being the date of the spring equinox, or the time 
when our days and nights are of equal length, and the date, also, when 
winter ends and spring begins, according to the astronomers. As our 
earth still moves onward, through April and May and into June, our 
part of it faces still more fairly toward the sun, day after day, until on 
June 21st it will have reached the point at which it faces it most fairly 
during the year. This is the point of the summer solstice, and is 
directly opposite the point of the winter solstice the earth having 
passed through half a year, and half her path around the sun, since 



The Solar System : — The Planets. 



25 



! leaving that point. Spring ends and summer begins with this day — 
j June 21st— on which date the sun rises and sets farthest north of any 
time during the year, making it the longest day of the year, that is, 
I the day embracing the longest time between sunrise and sunset. 



8 9P 










Moving on, we reach, in a few days, the point at which the earth 
is farthest from the sun— the aphelion point, it is called. As we pass 
through the summer months, July and August and into September, 



26 The Solar System: — The Planets, 

our part of the earth again faces less directly toward the sun, day 
after day, and on September 21st or 22d, we reach a point, again, 1 
where the sun is directly over the equator, and shines to an equal dis- 
tance north and south of it, which gives us, again, days and nights of 
equal length; it is the point known as the fall equijiox— directly oppo- 
site from, and six months later than, the spring equinox —and is the 
date of the close of summer and the beginning of fall or autumn. 

Still moving on through October and November and into Decem- 
ber, our part of the earth faces less and less fairly toward the sun, 
day after day, so that we feel its heat less and find the cold of winter 
again coming upon us, until on December 21st, again, our earth is back L 
to the point of the winter solstice, where autumn ends and the winter [ 
season begins, having been one year, or about 365X days, in thus mak- 
ing the circuit of the sun. 

While we have winter, people south of the equator have summer, 
and so on through all the year, our seasons and theirs are exactly op- 
posite — all these changes of seasons being due, as I have already told 
you, to the fact that the axis of the earth is so inclined, or tilted, toward 
its path around the sun, that each part of the earth is made to face 
the great, hot sun more or less fairly at different times. You may un- 
derstand this change of position better, perhaps, by noticing, in the pic- 
ture, how the north pole, in the winter, is turned away from the sun — 
how, as the earth moves on around the sun, it is, after awhile, brought 
to face toward the sun, during the spring and summer months and how, 
as the earth moves on along the other side of its course, it is made to 
face away from the sun, again, during the fall and winter months. 
But of this matter of the change of the seasons you will learn more 
when you are older. 

But besides moving thus around the sun, yearly, the earth, as 
some of you may already know, is all the time turning round and 
round on its axis, as it is termed, as it flies onward. It turns once 
thus every day, or 24 hours, making 365K such turns— or revolutions, 
we should say— in the course of its yearly journey around the sun. 
It is this turning round and round which gives us day and night— day, 
while our side of the earth faces the sun,— night, when we have been 
turned farther around, so that we no longer face the sun. The 
opposite part of the earth -China and other countries — will be facing 
the sun, and having their day, you see, while we are sleeping away 
the night. Each of the other planets thus turns on its axis, and so has 
day and night, as we do, though differing from ours in length. 

The moon, which is quite close to the earth as compared with the 
sun, keeps constantly circling around the earth while the earth is 
circling around the sun ; but we will talk about the moon, in particular, 
at some other time. 

But we must not forget the other planets. Besides the earth, there 
are seven large ones, as stated, named after the heathen gods and 



The Solar System: — The Planets. 27 

goddesses of the ancients, because of some fancied resemblance be- 
tween the movement, appearance or size of the planet and some sup- 
posed attribute of the heathen god or goddess for whom it was named. 
The one nearest the sun is called Mercury. It is the smallest planet, 
j the earth being about twenty times as large as it is. Its diameter — 
! distance through it — is about 3,000 miles. Its average distance from 
I the sun is about 36,000,000 miles. Being thus comparatively near, 
j the sun's attraction is greater, and this increases the speed with which 
; it flies around the sun, which is at the average rate of about 1,770 miles 
j a minute — nearly twice that of the earth ! As its course around the 
j sun — its orbit, we should say — is much smaller than, the earth's, and 
(its speed so much greater, it flies around the sun in about 88 of our 
i days, so that its year is much shorter than ours ; indeed it has more 
I than four of its years inside one of ours. Its day, however, is about 
j the same length as is ours, being about 24 hours and 5 minutes. 

Next comes Venus — which some of you may have had pointed out 
; to you as the very bright and very beautiful 'morning,' or 'evening 
star.' Venus is in size almost equal to the earth, being about 7,700 
miles in diameter. The average distance of Venus from the sun is 
! about 68,000,000 miles. She travels more slowly than Mercury, but 
more swiftly than the earth, the rate of speed being about 1,300 miles 
a minute, and revolves around the sun in 225 "of our days — the length 
of her year, then, being considerably more than half one of ours. 
Venus is the sixth planet in point of size. Her day is about 23 hours 
and 21 minutes in length. 

Next in order from the sun comes our own world, the earth, about 
which I have already given you some of the principal facts and 
figures. Our earth is fifth in size. 

On out beyond us comes, next, Mars — a planet much smaller 
than the earth, being but about 4,250 miles in diameter,, or next 
smallest after Mercury. Its average distance from the sun is about 
142,000,000 miles. Being so much farther away from the sun than the 
earth, and the sun's attraction being less powerful, it moves around in 
its orbit more slowly — about 900 miles a minute — and having, as you 
can see, a much greater distance to travel, it requires 687 of our days 
for it to pass around the sun— its year, therefore, being nearly as long 
as two of ours. Mars has two moons, one of which is but 4,000 miles 
from the planet, the other, a little more than 12,000 miles. One is but 
a little over 6, the other about 7^, miles in diameter, being very small, 
indeed. They revolve about the planet as our moon does about the 
earth. About 24 hours, 37 minutes and 23 seconds is the length of 
I one of Mars' days. 

Next, we find the little planets mentioned. They occupy the 
\ position, in order, in which we might expect to find another large 
j planet ; indeed, they are supposed, by some persons, to be parts of 
\ a once large planet, although others do not believe they ever have 



28 



The Solar System: — The Planets. 






belonged to one large world, but were formed, each as we now find it. 
Over a hundred of them have been discovered, while it is thought 
there may be many thousands of them, altogether. They are very, 
very small worlds indeed, most of them, the largest being but 400 
miles in diameter. They revolve around the sun, each in its own 
orbit, like the large planets, occupying a belt in space about 100,000,000 
miles in width, the center of which is distant about 250,000,000 miles 
from the sun. The number of these little worlds — asteroids, they are 
called — discovered up to September 1, 1889, is 287; new ones are being 
discovered, every little while, so that it is not yet known how many 
there are of them. Some are no more than 20 miles in diameter. 

Next comes Jupiter — the giant planet. Its diameter is about 
86,000 miles. It is larger than all the other planets of our system put 




together; indeed, it would take about 1,285 worlds like our earth to 
equal it in size ! Its average distance from the sun is 484,000,000 
miles, and so great is the distance to be traveled in its course around 
the sun that although flying along at the rate of 480 miles a minute, it 
requires about 12 of our years for this planet to make this journey — 
one of Jupiter's years being, therefore, equal to about 12 of ours. 
Jupiter has four moons, which go round and round the planet while it 
goes round the sun. These moons are of considerable size. Jupiter's 
day is 9 hours, 55 minutes and 20 seconds in length. 

Saturn is the name of the next planet we find in passing outward 
from the sun. Saturn is second in size, among the planets, being 
about 71,000 miles in diameter. Its average distance from the sun is 



The Solar System :—The Planets. 29 

886,000,000 miles, and although it travels along its orbit 350 miles a 
minute its year, or the time occupied in passing around the sun, is 
equal to over 29^ of our years. Some of you would not be much 
more than a quarter of a year old, measuring by Saturn's year, eh ? 
Saturn is twice as well supplied with moons, as is Jupiter, having 
eight of them, which revolve around the planet as do Jupiter's and 
our own. Besides, Saturn has three great, wide, shining belts or 
rings which surround it, but at great distances from it, and which 
also revolve about it. The nature of these rings has not been clearly 
determined as yet. Saturn alone has such rings ; at least, none have 
yet been found, elsewhere. This planet, with its rings, presents a 
magnificent spectacle. Saturn's day is but about 10 hours and 14 
minutes long. 

Uranus, the next planet, has a diameter of about 33,000 miles, 
it being fourth in size among the planets. Its average distance from 
the sun is about 1,780,000,000 miles ! — figures are growing large, aren't 
they ? So great is the distance it must travel in passing round the 
sun, that its year is equal to more than 84 of ours. It travels at the 
rate of about 240 miles a minute, in its path around the sun. Nearly 
all our earth's inhabitants, counted by Uranus' time, would die before 
they could reach the age of a single year ! Four moons circle around 
this planet. The length of Uranus' day is not yet known. 

Next, and last, we come to Neptune, far, far out in space, being 
distant from the sun an average distance of about 2,800,000,000 miles! 
It, of course, has an immense distance to travel in its passage around the 
sun. So great is this distance that it requires nearly 165 of our years 
to traverse it, and complete one of its years, although it is moving at the 
rate of 200 miles a minute all the time. Neptune is the third planet 
in point of size, being 37,000 miles in diameter. Like our earth, Neptune 
has but a single moon. The length of Neptune's day is unknown. 

We have now taken a brief glance at each of the planets. The 
same law governs them all, although affecting them in different 
measure, according to their mass and their distance from the great 
center of the system, the sun. The quantity of heat and light received 
by each differs very much, of course. On Mercury, the closest, it is 
several times as great as that which we receive, the quantity then 
diminishing with each until at Neptune, the farthest, it is but a 
thousandth part of what our earth receives. Ah, yes, a question I 
was looking for — but one which cannot be answered, young lady, as 
you would like it to be. Whether anybody lives on these other 
planets, or not, no one can say, as not even the best telescopes yet 
made, or any ever likely to be made, can enable us to settle this 
point. Only He who made them knows. We know no reason, though, 
why our world alone should be peopled — filled with life in countless 
forms ; for all we know, or do not know, these other worlds, as all 
those in the universe, may also be swarming with life. 



30 The Solar System: — The Planets, 

I should say that the planets, some of which we cau see shining 
among the stars, have no light of their own, but the light which we 
see coming from them — which makes them shine — is received by them 
from the sun, and is reflected, or thrown back, to us, just as it is re- 
flected from objects here on the earth. Indeed, our earth which, we 
know, is not bright, as the stars seem to us, reflects the light of the 
sun to the other planets, as they do to us ; so that if we were on 
Venus, for instance, the earth would appear to us as Venus appears 
to us from the earth — shining like a star. Our moonlight, I may add. 
is sunlight reflected to us from the moon — but of this and other things 
concerning the moon we are to talk, later. 

Now, if I had a sheet of paper large enough, we would soon have 
a picture showing all th.e planets circling around the sun — like this 
little one here which shows the sun and earth only ; but to show them 
all. each at the proper distance to correspond with their real distances 
from the sun would require a much larger piece of paper than any 
we have here. For instance, if we should represent Mercury, the 
planet nearest the sun. as being distant but a little more than an 
inch from it, Xeptune would have to be represented as being about 
6>2 feet from the sun ; and to draw a circle or, ellipse, rather, 
representing its entire course, or orbit, would require a sheet of paper 
over 13 feet square. Why. yes. Ned, to be sure we could ; that "s a 
very bright idea. Move back your chairs and stools, then, and we'll 
mark off the distances of the planets on the carpet. You sit still, 
Miss Inquisitive, I want you to be the sun : perhaps Joe ought to have 
that position, however — he is so remarkably bright, you know. Now, 
Willie, bring me your marbles, that rubber ball Bess gave you yester- 
day, some of baby's little beads, and — let's see — oh. yes ! the papers 
of flower seeds which mamma saved in the fall ; with such an assort- 
ment of round things, I think we shall be able to find enough of 
suitable sizes to represent the different planets. 

Miss Inquisitive, we'll move your chair just a little this way — that 
will do— to bring you to the center of the room ; now, you are supposed 
to be the sun, in the center of our solar system. However, we are 
all to try our best to imagine you as being, not a rather handsome — 
though modest — young lady, but some kind of a big ball, a foot-ball, 
say, about a foot in diameter ; we will have to represent the sun as 
being of that size, in order to find enough small round bodies to 
represent the planets. Ah, here's Willie with our planets, now; that's 
good — thank you. 

v. we will begin. If we were in a large hall. I would work on a 
larger scale, but we cannot inside this room place the first planet. 
Mercury, more than about an inch from the sun without entirely 
crowding out Xeptune, and perhaps Uranus and Saturn. So we will 
place Mercury here, an inch from Miss Inquisitive— our sun. As she 
is supposed to be a ball a foot in diameter. Mercury in proportion will 



The Solar System: — The Planets. 31 

be very small, being only 3,000 miles in diameter, you will recollect, 
while the sun is 870,000,000 miles in diameter! — a fact which I had 
no yet stated. We will use one of these little pansy seeds to 
represent Mercury, then, placing it here — this distance of an inch 
representing the 36,000,000 miles between the planet and the sun. For 
Venus we will use, as giving us about the proper size, in proportion to 
our supposed sun, this small sweet-pea, placing it here, about 2 inches 
from the sun. Our earth comes next, and will, being a little larger 
than Venus, you know, need, say, this slightly larger sweet-pea, placed 
nearly 3 inches from the sun. Near it, here, we will place this tiny 
seed, to represent our moon, you know. Mars, now, will be here, about 
4 inches out, and may be represented by this balsam seed. Here, 
close beside it, I'll place these two tiny seeds for its two moons. The 
little planets come next, and might, if we had it, be represented by 
sprinkling here some grains of the finest sand. Next comes big 
Jupiter — here, about 13^ inches out ; the new gum ball, Willie, will 
just suit for this planet, being about an inch and a quarter in diameter. 
Here around it we will place 4 little seeds, representing Jupiter's 
moons. Saturn will be about 24^ inches out — here — and this big 
marble, a little over an inch in diameter, will fairly represent it. 
Here, too, are 8 little seeds, for its moons. Out here, about 49^ 
inches, we will place Uranus, this smaller half-inch marble being 
about the size to properly represent it. These 4 little seeds represent 
its moons. And, lastly, away out here, about 78 inches, or 6 l / 2 feet, 
from the sun we will place this marble, which is a little larger than 
this one for Uranus, to represent far-away Neptune — with this little 
seed, again, for its moon. There— we have the planets all placed. 
Now, if we could start them all going, around and around Miss 
Inquisitive — Mercury fairly flying around and the others traveling 
each more slowly than the other, in their order from the sun, we 
could understand more clearly their motion. However, they do not 
move around as they would here on the floor, all on the same level ; 
indeed, not one of them revolves on such a level, as I may put it. 
The paths or orbits of all of them are inclined — or 'tipped,' you know 
— some more, some less, so that their actual paths, as we would see if 
we could have our planets here move like the real planets, would be 
partly above and partly below the floor, in what we would call a 
leaning position, some leaning more, others less. Of course, there is 
no real thing in space corresponding to our floor here, but astrono- 
mers imagine such a thing as existing, and as passing through the 
center of the sun ; this they call the ecliptic. As the planets circle 
round the sun, they will be sometimes above, sometimes below this 
ecliptic— as we have seen they would be above or below the floor- 
crossing it twice in each revolution, or year. This is the ' crossing 
the line ' of which you may have heard older persons speak. Our 
earth 'crosses the line' March 21st, and September 22d, each year; 



32 The Solar System : — The Planets. 

this time of crossing is called the equinox — which means equal night 
— the days and nights at these dates being of equal length, 12 hours 
each. But of these and many other things of which I cannot tell you 
now, vou will learn, I trust, when you are older. Astronomy is a 
beautiful, a wonderful science, as even the little you have learned 
may have already led you to believe ; everybody who can do so, ought 
to study it, and those who cannot, whether old or young, ought to, if 
possible, at least read one or more of the many books upon it. 

If our room were but large enough, or if we were out on the lawn, 
I might arrange you, each to represent a planet, and have you all 
move around Miss Inquisitive, as the sun, Mercury running, or walk- 
ing very rapidly, and Neptune plodding around very slowly. Some of 
you, too, could circle around the planets, to represent moons, and 
others of you might play comet and rush in between the planets, 
turning round the sun and then rushing out again in real comet 
fashion. We may try this, next summer ; it would be quite a 
novel lawn game, wouldn't it ? — quite as interesting as, and more in- 
structive than, 'fox and geese.' 

Comets ? — Miss Inquisitive ; well, I'll tell you something about 
them, in a moment, ma'am, as, before speaking of the sun and moon, 
in particular, we will take a brief glance at the other bodies belonging 
to the solar system, — a very brief glance, indeed, being all we can 
catch of some of these bodies, ordinarily, I may add. You all have 
seen 'shooting' or 'falling stars,' as we call them ; probably some of 
you have seen meteors ; while possibly some of you have even seen a 
comet. — Ah, yes, you have, Ned, — and you, Nell." 



V. 

THE SOLAR SYSTEM :— COMETS, SHOOTING 
STARS, METEORS AND THE ZODIACAL 

LIGHT 

" Comets are bright — luminous is the proper word — comets are, 
then, luminous bodies in some respects like, and in others quite unlike, 
the shooting stars or meteors. They are both a wonder and a puzzle. 
They are bodies which sweep through space, rushing in between the 
planets and turning around the sun, appearing to our sight for perhaps 
several weeks and then disappearing, to return again, some of them, 
in a comparatively short time, — 3 or 4 years, it may be, or 75 or 100 
years, — while others of them will not return again for 2,000 or even 
3,000 years, and others still not for more than 100,000 years (122,683 




DOUBLE-TAILED COMET. 



years in the case of one), so far do their orbits extend out into space! 
406,130,000,000 miles — can you think that far, Miss Inquisitive? — is the 
distance from the sun to which one of them is estimated to travel. The 
still greater distance to which some others may travel is not yet known. 
A perfect comet has a very bright spot called the nucleus, sur- 
rounded by a less luminous fleecy part called the coma, or envelope, 
and this is followed by a long, fleecy tail of light; but some may have 
no tail; or, they may have several tails — one famous one having been 
favored with no less than six; or, they may be without a bright central 
body, or nucleus. Some of them — most of them — move around the 
sun in the same direction as that of the planets, while others move 
in the opposite direction. They are first seen as they come toward the 
sun, though while yet many millions of miles from it. Day by day they 



34 Comets, Shooting Stars, Meteors and the Zodiacal Light, 

draw nearer to the sun, growing brighter all the time, until they swing 
around it, and fly off again into space — to be gone perhaps a few years, 
possibly a thousand or many thousands of years. Although traveling 
swiftly, so great are their orbits that from the time they are first seen 
until they have doubled around the sun and again gone out of sight is 
often several weeks — while the astronomers with their great telescopes k 
can see them, too, long before they come within range of our unaidec 
eyes, and long after we can no longer follow them. They can, therefore, J 
be seen night after night, and sometimes even during the day. Usually, j 
when first seen, they are without a tail, only the great, round, fleecy * 
head appearing, with or without a nucleus, as the case may be, the tai' j 
appearing, and increasing in length at an astonishing rate, as the comet ' 
comes closer to the sun, — this tail generally disappearing as the comet 4 
circles round the sun, so that the comet goes off tailless. Sometimes. % 
however, the reverse is true; a comet which starts around the sun with i 
out a tail, or with but a small one, develops one at the time when others 1 
lose theirs, and goes off with a great tail spreading out behind it! One i 
comet divided, forming two comets, which traveled along, like twins, 
side by side! This comet was discovered in 1846 by Biela, and received 
his name. It appeared again in 1852, still separated, but has never 
since been seen. On this account it is known as the ' Lost Biela.' 

Of what comets are composed is not certainly known. The nucleus 
is probably matter in a more or less fluid state, while the tail is proba- ] 
bly composed partly of luminous gas, and partly of countless millions 
of very, very small bodies, called meteoroids. 

Although we see a comet only occasionally, there are, astronomers I 
tell us, millions of them sweeping around the sun. Some of them have 
appeared many times, coming back to and around the sun every few 
years, having been familiar visitors for centuries, while others have, 
as yet, paid us but a single visit.* The time of the return of a comet 
to our sun, in case it ever returns, depends, of course, mainly upon 
the extent of its orbit. They do not, I should state, all move in the 
same kind of orbits; some have orbits like the orbit of the earth, 
shaped like an ellipse, while others have what are called parabolic \ 
orbits, and others still, hyperbolic orbits. Here — I will make a picture 

* The following table of periodic comets, in the order of their periodic times, 
prepared by Prof. Lewis Swift, is the most perfect one extant. There are several 
<»t her comets whose periods have been computed, but about which there is consid- 
erable uncertainty as to their next return. 



Periodic Times. Next Return. 

Encke's 3.30 1891 

Tempel's 1 5.20 1889 

Swift's 5.50 1891 

Finlay's r,.50? 1892? 

Brorses's 5.56 1889 

Wlnnecke's 6.64 1891 

Tempel's II 6.00 1891 

D* Arrest's 6.99 L890 

Barnard's 6.50? L801? 

Biela's North.... 6.59 



Periodic Times. Next Return. 

Biela's South.... 6.63 

Wolf's 6.75? 1891? 

Brook's 1 7.00? 1896? 

Faye's 7.41 1806 

Brook's II 9.00? 1898? 

Denning's 9.00? 1891? 

Turtle's 13.78 1899 

Pons-Brook's.... 71.34 1955 

Olbers-Brook's.. 72.33 1958 

Halley's 76.00 1912 



Those marked ? are certainly periodics, but the exact periods are not known, 
as they have not made another return since they were discovered. 



1 



Comets, Shooting Stars, Meteors and the Zodiacal Light. 35 

showing these three kinds of orbits. Now, a comet following this 
inner, or elliptical orbit, will at some time come back to the sun, as 
you can see, but one following this parabolic or this hyperbolic orbit 
will never come back again to the sun after once swinging round it, 
for the reason that the sides of its orbit, as you can see, become more 
widely separated the farther they are extended. In the case of comets 
following the first named kind of orbit, the time of the return of many 

r of them can be, and has been, determined by the astronomers, who 
tell us exactly when we may expect to see them again, whether it be 

' in few or many years; but in the case of many of even this kind of 
comets, so vast are their orbits that it is difficult, if not impossible, 

. indeed, to predict the time of their return. In making the turn round 



v m 












the sun before flying off again, some approach it much more closely 
than do others. They sometimes come comparatively close to our 
earth, and the possibility of their striking the earth is talked of; in- 
deed, it is thought the earth did pass through the tail of a comet some 
years ago, but this is very doubtful. 

Some of them are of enormous size — especially in the length and 
fan-like spread of their tails. Donati's comet — so called because of 
the name of the astronomer who first saw it — had a tail 50,000,000 miles 
long. This comet, which probably was seen by the parents of many 
of you, as it appeared in 1858, was one of the most brilliant and beautiful 
ever seen. But the comet seen in 181 1, though less brilliant than the 
one just mentioned, greatly exceeded it in size, being 1,125,000 miles 
in diameter, and having a tail which spread out behind it to a distance 



36 Comets, Shooting Stars, Meteors a?id the Zodiacal Light, 

of 150,000,000 miles! — while the tail of the comet of 1843 reached the 
enormous length of nearly 200,000,000 miles, being the longest ever 
observed. The comet of 1S47 (V) was the smallest ever discovered, 
having a diameter of but 18,000 miles. The nearest approach to the 
sun made by any comet was that made by the comet of 1843 — the one 
with the remarkably long tail — which, as it turned around the sun, was 
but 60.000 miles from its surface. 

The number of comets discovered, so far as we have reliable rec- 
ords of these events, some of which date back thousands of years, is 




DONATI S COMET. 



about 900. During the last twenty years 72 have been discovered. 
The astronomers of our own country, in the brief time in which ob- 
servations have been carried on, have already discovered 45 comets. 
As I have already stated, I believe, there are supposed to be millions 
of comets, and the discovery of these wandering bodies is a work now 
receiving especial attention from some of our most noted astrono- 
mers, whose great telescopes sweep over the whole sky and pierce to 
immeasurable distances the starry depths of space. 

Comets, because of the suddenness of their appearance, and their 



Comets* Shooting Stars, Meteors and the Zodiacal Light. 37 

sometimes seeming terribleness, have always been regarded by super- 
stitious people as messengers or signs of evil — of war, famine, pesti- 
lence, etc. — though much less so now than in earlier times, when there 
was only ignorance in regard to them. The comet which appeared in 
1861 was thus looked upon by some in connection with our civil war; 
but such notions are not very largely accepted in these days in the 
light of our present knowledge in regard to comets and their appear- 
ances, which are often foretold to a day. They have always furnished 
a most interesting study to astronomers, and still do so, as there is much 
yet to learn touching some points concerning them. 

The shooting stars and meteors, the astronomers tell us, are small 
bodies which revolve about the sun as does our earth. They 
are very, very small bodies, indeed — too small to be seen only as they 
flash out when they come so close to the earth as to pass through 
our atmosphere — often, too, striking the earth. The path of the 
earth and the path of these tiny bodies around the sun cross 
at certain points, and these little bodies that happen to meet the earth 
at these points will either pass through our atmosphere and off again, 
or strike the earth itself. They are not bright or fiery, as we see them, 
while yet out in space; it is only when they enter our atmosphere that 
they become so, — the friction, or rubbing against them of the air, in 
their swift flight through it, causing them to glow with heat. The 
very small ones may be entirely burned up, thus, and it is these, or the 
bright trail they leave for a moment, that we call shooting stars. 
We may see some of these almost any clear night^for it is estimated 
that there are hundreds of millions of them. At some times they are 
more numerous than ordinarily, the earth passing across a great belt 
of them. At such times these shooting stars fall by thousands, the air 
seeming to be filled with them — much to the terror of the many persons 
who do not understand the matter, as thousands do not. The fathers 
and mothers, or grandfathers and grandmothers, of some of you can tell 
you startling stories of the wonderful star-shower of 1833. It was a 
most beautiful, although to many, a most terrible, spectacle, indeed. 
In 1866 another, though less remarkable shower, occurred, but in Eng- 
land this time. In ten or eleven years, again, we may have an oppor- 
tunity to witness one of these great star-showers — which occur, as you 
will notice by the years I have mentioned, in periods of a little more 
than 33 years each, the next being due, therefore, in 1899. There are 
other showers besides that of the 33 year period — one on August 10th 
of every year, and others, nearly 200 in all ; but those of the 33 
year period are the most remarkable. 

There are records of these star showers of the 33 year period dat- 
ing back nearly 1,000 years, or to the year 902. The shower of that 
year occurred about the middle of October, but as it occurs one day 
later at each return it happens now about the middle of November — 
the date of the next one being November 14, 1899. The cause of these. 



38 Comets \ Shooting Stars, Meteors and the Zodiacal Light. 

star showers was a mystery for centuries, but within the last 40 years 
much light has been thrown upon the matter by the labor of astrono- 
mers to that end. It was only with the occurrence of the most re- 
markable shower of 1833 that it was noticed that the showers occurred 
at regular periods. It is now known that the countless millions of 
small bodies which produce these beautiful and startling star showers 
are collected into rings of millions of miles in extent, in some parts of 
which they are grouped together more thickly than in other parts. 
These great rings, or clusters, of meteoroids, as the little bodies are 
called, are ( like all the bodies of our system, great or small ) revolving 
around the sun, and it is when our earth, in the course of her yearly 
journey around the sun, passes through one of these rings or clusters 
that we have a star shower, the extent of the shower depending upon 
the number of meteoroids met with in the passage, the number varying 
with different rings or clusters, or different parts of the same ring or 
cluster. There are very many of these rings and clusters of these 
small bodies — one producing the wonderful 33 year shower, another 
the yearly shower of August 10th, another that of the shower of 
November 27, occurring every 6 or 7 years, etc., etc. 

The 33 year shower is the most remarkable of all. It is produced 
by a great ring, having in one part of it an immense cluster or swarm 
of these little bodies. This cluster in the ring is estimated to be 
1,000,000 miles in length and 500,000 in breadth and depth, containing 
millions upon millions of the meteoroids; the other part of the ring is 
not so large— so thick, w r e will say. The meteoroids of this ring revolve 
around the sun once in about 33^ years. Each year the earth passes 
through them, but usually through the thinner part of the ring, 
producing but a small and not at all remarkable shower; but once in 33 
years the earth plunges into and through the great cluster in the 
ring, and we have the shower which startles all who are privileged to 
behold it, — as perhaps some of us may, in 1899. I have, here, two 
pictures which will help you to understand this matter of the cause of 
this great star shower. The first one shows the ring of meteoroids, 
with the great cluster of them about where it now is, up here. It is 
coming toward us, and in a little less than ten years from this time, 
it will have reached us, and on November 15, 1899, we will pass 
through it. Whether or not we Americans shall be permitted to see 
the great shower at that time, will depend upon the exact time at 
which the earth dashes into the stream of little bodies. On the last 
occasion of this great shower, that is, in 1866, England and the other 
European countries were so fortunate as to witness it, while we missed 
it, this being due to the fact that England was facing the stream of 
meteoroids at the time the earth entered it, and the stream was passed 
through before the turning of the earth on its axis had brought our 
part of the earth around to the position which, had it been reached 
some hours earlier, would have enabled us to witness the shower. 



i 



Comets ; Shooting Stars, Meteors and the Zodiacal Light. 39 



'**//« 



*f 






* * "V » C 






In the picture marked No. 
1, the present position (1890) 
of the great cluster in the ring 
of meteoroids is shown. The 
direction of the motion of the 
ring around the sun is opposite 
to that of the earth and other 
planets, as indicated by the 
arrows. 



ORBIT OF SAJUR N 




No.l. 



In No. 2 we have presented 
the position of the cluster in 
the ring nine years hence, or 
at the time of the next great 
"star shower," November 15, 
1899. The dates of the three 
preceding great showers are 
also given. 



jU piTER'S ORBir. 




& CO 


to <y> 

CO (0 

CO *" 


•$/ en 


- \D 


i s 


>• ^ 


-i. 



No. 3. 



40 Comets, Shooting Stars \ Meteors and the Zodiacal Light. 

But in 1833 matters were exactly the other way, the eastern conti- 
nent having been turned on over past the position which would have 
brought it into the stream of meteoroids had it been reached a little 
earlier, while our part of the world was brought round exactly in time 
to face the rain of fire occasioned by the rushing through our atmos- 
phere of countless millions of these little bodies, each of them, as it 
was burned up by the heat caused by the friction of the air against it, 
flashing out for an instant and then disappearing in a long, sparkling 
trail of light. 

This shower, judging by the many accounts of it that I have 
heard and read, must have been a most sublime and beautiful 
spectacle to anyone not overcome by a feeling of terror — as were 
perhaps the greater number of those who witnessed it. And such a 
sight might well strike terror to the hearts of those unacquainted with 
the nature of such a display, and lead them to believe, as thousands 
did, that the end of the world had come. The whole sky was rilled 
with the fiery, darting meteors, almost as thickly as with rain, ac- 
cording to some accounts, and continuing for ' eight long, terrible 
hours,' as one observer says. The same writer says: 'The scene 
was a most appalling one, -and caused the stoutest hearts to quake 
with fear, and suggested the destruction of the universe.' To the 
more ignorant and the superstitious the scene was especially terrifying. 
Its effect upon a large class of such persons is illustrated in the 
following account given by a South Carolina gentleman: — 'I was 
suddenly awakened by the most distressing cries that ever fell on my 
ears. Shrieks of horror and cries for mercy I could hear from most 
of the negroes of three plantations, amounting in all to 600 or 800 
souls. While earnestly listening for the cause I heard a faint voice 
near the door calling my name. I arose, and taking my sword, 
stood at the door. At this moment I heard the same voice still be- 
seeching me to rise, and saying, " Oh, my God ! the world is on fire !" 
I then opened the door, and it is difficult to say which excited me 
most, the awfulness of the scene or the distressed cries of the negroes. 
Upwards of a hundred lay prostrated on the ground, some speechless 
and some uttering the bitterest cries, but most with their hands raised, 
imploring God to save the world and them. The scene was truly 
awful, for never did rain fall much thicker than the meteors fell to- 
ward the earth. East, west, north, south, it was the same ! ' 

This most wonderful of all star showers extended from Greenland 
to Southern Mexico, and through 40 degrees of longitude. It began 
before midnight and continued until the brightness of the rising sun 
hid the meteors from view. Moving at the rate of 65,500 miles an 
hour, the earth during the eight hours the meteors were visible, passed 
through 524,000 miles of the great cluster of the ring of meteoroids. As 
it was estimated that 300,000 of them were seen from any one point, 
the total number of the meteors or shooting stars which appeared 



Comets, Shooting Stars, Meteors and the Zodiacal Light. 41 

throughout the whole extent of the territory covered by the shower 
must have been enormous, indeed. Most of them showed the soft 
white light which we usually see them give, but some were colored — 
red, green, etc. No doubt the shower of 1899 will be most eagerly 
watched for, — but its appearance will not be likely to create such 
widespread fear and alarm as did the shower of 1833. 

The source of these myriads of little bodies forming the great rings 
and clusters is a subject affording food for greatest wonder. It is 
believed, and with the best of reason, too, that these rings and clusters 
of meteoroids are made up of the tails of comets, separated from and 
left behind by the comets in their flight, each return of a comet thus 
adding to the dimensions of the ring or cluster it has formed, and 
'increasing the number of meteoroids it contains. The proof of this, 
found by comparing various points connected with comets with the 
corresponding points connected with the meteoric rings they are sup- 
posed to have formed by the repeated loss of their tails, is most 
conclusive. For instance, the ring producing the great showers of 
which we have been speaking, is believed to be composed of the cast- 
off tails of the comet known as Tempel's, the various points con- 
nected with the position and movements of the comet and the ring 
being almost identical.* That ' wonders never cease ' is a saying the 
astronomer is most willing to accept and proclaim, finding, as he does, 
so many fresh proofs of it on every hand. 

I have no doubt it is a matter of surprise to you to learn that the 
shooting stars are not stars at all, but only the little bodies which are 
parts of our system, — the real stars being the far, far away suns of 
which I have already spoken, and of which I may tell you a little 
more, at another time. The little bodies which are the real shooting 
stars swarm about us in space all the time, and our earth meets great 
numbers of them every day, as many as 7,500,000, it is estimated. On 
any clear night, as you know, we may see some of them, one or more, 
as they dash into our atmosphere, are heated so as to blaze out for a 
moment, then disappear forever, having been burned up, to fall to the 
earth, unnoticed, as dust or ashes. As they never reach the earth 
only as thus burned to dust or ashes, their real size, shape and ap- 
pearance is not known, but they are too small, at least, to be seen 
only as they flash out at night on entering our atmosphere, at the rate 
of perhaps nearly 100 miles a second ! It is estimated that they flash 

* The following table of comparisons (Swift) exhibits the striking similarity 
mentioned: 

Tempel's Comet. November Meteors. 

Period 33.18 years 33.25 years 

Eccentricity 0.9054 0.9046 

Perihelion Distance 0.9765 0.9873 

Semi Axis, Major 10.324 10.344 

; Inclination 17° 18' 17° 44' 

1 Longitude of Node 231° 26' 231° 28' 

! Longitude of Perihelion 60° 28' 56° 25' 

! Motion , , .Retrograde , Retrograde 



4^ Comets, Shooting Stars, Meteors and the Zodiacal Light. 

out when about 73 miles above the earth, and are burned up, and so 
disappear, at the height of about 50 miles above us. 

Meteors differ from shooting stars in that they are larger, appear- 
ing as huge balls of fire which may be seen for a considerable time — 
often during the day time. Perhaps soine of you may have read news- 
paper accounts of the appearance of meteors in various parts of the 




A METEOR WITH ITS TRAIN. 



country, or other countries; of how they have struck the earth, and 
afterwards have been found, hissing and glowing hot, half buried in the 
earth; and, it may be, they have exploded, with a tremendous report, 
either while in the air or after having struck the earth. They are prob- 
ably the larger of the tiny bodies, which are not, therefore, in all cases, 
burned up in their passage through the air, and so -reach the earth — 
the explosion, when it occurs, being the result, however, of the heat 



I 



Comets, Shooting Stars, Meteors and the Zodiacal Light. 43 

caused by their passage. The parts of these bodies which fall to the 
earth are often called aerolites. They are largely composed of iron — 
the meteoric iron of which I told you, I think, last year when we were 
learning some things about iron and steel; some, however, are com- 
posed, mainly, of stone. 

There is yet the zodiacal light of which I should speak. This is 




ZODIACAL LIGHT. 

something of which little, if anything at all, indeed, is known beyond 
the fact of its appearance. It is a great field of light, appearing before 
the morning twilight or after the evening twilight, having a broad base 
at the horizon, sloping to a rather rounded top, which top is often high 
up in the sky. In countries lying at or near the equator, it can be seen 
every clear morning or evening, being quite bright. Here in the north 



44 Comets, Shooting Stars, Meteors and the Zodiacal Light, 

it is to be seen, when seen at all, only in the early spring, when it ap- 
pears in the evening, as the stars are beginning to 'come out,' or in 
the early autumn, when it appears in the morning twilight. It is 
now believed to be a great ring of matter in the form of dust or of 
very, very small particles, probably thrown off by comets. It is sup- 
posed to be distant about 200,000,000 miles from the sun. 

Speaking of the stars as ' coming out ' in the evening suggests a 
point which I think I should mention. As the stars— those far away 
suns — are everywhere present throughout space, the sky is full of them 
by day as well as by night, the reason we cannot see them being, the 
greater brightness of the sun swallows up their light, as it were; and 
it is only when the light of the sun fades away, as our part of the earth 
turns away from it, in the evening, that the stars can be seen, the 
brighter ones coming out first, and the fainter ones as the darkness 
increases. An astronomer can see the stars by daylight, however, as 
readily as at night, as the long tube of his telescope shuts out, very 
largely, the light of the sun. Perhaps some of you may have heard — I 
have — a well-digger speak of seeing stars when looking up from the 
bottom of a deep well — the well shutting out the sunlight, as does the 
astronomer's long telescope. 

Now, we must close our talk, for this evening, as I know of several 
Sunday-school Christmas-trees in which some of you are very much 
interested, I think; besides, the sick girl may be getting tired. — Oh! 
you're not tired, eh? Very well, then — we'll go before you are. So, 
good-by, ma'am, until to-morrow evening; we'll come again, then, at, 
say, seven o'clock, at which time we will take up the subject we tried 
to take up at the outset — the sun. Come, youngsters, we'll be off. 
Good night! — good night! " 



VI. 

THE SUN:— AN EXCURSION TO IT. 

"Well, here we are again, — and none of us much the worse, so 
far as I can discover, for our Christmas feasting. You all had a fine 
time at your treats, last night, I suppose. — Yes, indeed, to be sure you 
'had — why should n't you? Miss Inquisitive, do they expect you to 
eat all these good things they have saved from their shares of the 
treats and brought to you ? If so, old Doctor Pillsbury will be needed 
more than he has been at any time yet, in your case. Come, come, 
Joe, — at it again, are you ? This may, indeed, be a striking illustration 
of 'sweet friendship,' as you say, young man, but you are on the 
high road to meeting with a striking illustration of the opposite 
sentiment, if you persist in presenting such jokes to this company. 
But I'm afraid my warning is lost on you — judging by that grin; 
I should n't wonder if you are thinking up something else of the kind, 
this minute. 

Well, mount your throne, Miss Inquisitive, and the rest of you 
gather around to suit yourselves — only be kind enough to leave empty 
a certain big chair for a certain big friend of yours to fill, when he 
can get to it. Thank you — this is comfortable, indeed. Now, if Joe 
will assure us that he has subsided for the present, we'll begin our 
astronomical talks again. — Very well, young man, we'll see if you 
have. 

We are to talk about the sun, this evening, I believe — that great 
body from which we get our heat and light, and which, as you have 
already been told, is the center of our system around which all the 
planets, etc., constantly revolve, and by the attraction of which they 
are held in place while thus flying through space. Considering the 
fact that the sun is the principal body belonging to our system, con- 
trolling all the others, it would seem that we should have given our 
attention to it before describing the planets as we have done ; but we 
were led to follow the course we have taken by the questions asked, 
only reaching the sun, now, after having, in a sense, for a long time 
been circling around it — or around him, I might have said, since the 
sun is very generally spoken of as being of the masculine gender, the 
moon, on the other hand, being considered as being feminine, not- 
withstanding the fact, in this latter case, that we never hear of the 
woman but only of the 'man in the moon.' — No, not now, Miss ; we'll 
talk about that gentleman, again, — to-morrow night, perhaps. But to 
return to the point of which I was speaking, I will add that I am not 



46 The Sun : — An Excursion to It. 

sorry that we are only now about to speak of the sun, as the knowl- 
edge thus already gained in regard to some matters, may help you 
to more readily understand some of the other matters of which I shall 
speak, presently. 

I have already told you of the sun's distance from our earth, 
about 92,500,000 miles, as you will recollect, — a distance not nearly 
so great as others of which I have spoken, yet one of which it is 
entirely beyond the power of our mind to form any idea. To enable 
our mind to grasp such figures, in a manner, the plan is generally 
adopted, by those who speak or write of this and other distances in 
space, to apply some familiar rate of speed, as that of railroad trains, 
to the measurement of the. distances which otherwise defy our powers 
of thought. We can realize more forcibly the necessity of some such 
illustration when we consider that while nearly anybody can think 
pretty accurately touching the distance of a mile or of several miles, 
perhaps, yet when we speak of several hundreds, or at most of several 
thousands, of miles, only a few can measure even such distances in 
their mind ; how utterly must we fail, then, in the attempt to think 
millions of miles. We will, of necessity, make use of such an illustra- 
tion, going on an imaginary excursion to the sun ; and since we will 
take first-class, unlimited tickets, we will then be entitled to ' stop-off 
checks,' in case we should care to stay a short time at any planets we 
might happen to meet. 

We will suppose, then — for we can, at least, suppose all such im- 
possible things as this — we will suppose that there is a railroad 
running from our earth away out through space to the sun. What a 
long line that would be, indeed ; and oh, how the great, rival ' rail- 
road kings,' as we call them, who now boast of the thousands of 
miles of railroad they control here in the United States, would scheme 
and plan and work, day and night, to buy up enough shares of the 
company owning this railroad to secure control of this line of ovei 
92,500,000 miles ! Well, we will suppose that we take a train upon sue] 
a railroad — a modern vestibule train of parlor, dining and sleeping 
cars, it is quite necessary to suppose we have the dining and sleeping 
cars, you '11 find, and even more important to suppose we have a very 
large and very well stocked provision train accompanying us to supply 
our dining car. And, most important of all, we must suppose — sinc< 
supposing is so easy and withal so necessary in this case — we musl 
suppose, before starting upon our trip, that we are to be gifted wit] 
very, very long lives, as, otherwise, we never should reach our journey's 
end. — Oh, you'll soon find out why, Miss Inquisitive — just wait. 

Let us suppose, nexf, having got aboard our train, that we an 
running toward the sun at — well, what rate ? — a mile a minute ? N< 
that's faster than trains run, except on rare occasions and for but 
short distance at a time, but we '11 say at the rate of 40 miles 
hour, which is the rate at which some of our fast express trains 



The Sun: — An Excursion to It. 47 

rushing across our country, every day. We are now speeding along, 
we must suppose, at the rate of 40 miles an hour, or 960 miles a day — 
a rapid rate for railroading, to be sure, but no better than a snail's 
pace, as compared with the rate at which our world, as we have 
learned, is rushing along through space around the sun, traveling 
farther in a single minute than our express train travels in a whole day ! 

Eh ? — what's the matter ? Why, I was just dropping into a com- 
fortable little nap, feeling rather drowsy, as a result, I suppose, of 
yesterday's over-excitement. There will be plenty of time — plenty of 
time, indeed — to finish our talk before we reach the sun, and so I have 
concluded to take a short nap. Please wake me up, some of you, 
before we reach the moon. — Oh, yes — to be sure, to be sure ! we're 
only supposing that we are on our way to the sun ; well, I'll wake up, 
then, and get to work, again. 

Still supposing, then, that we could take a train for the sun, and 
should travel at express train speed of 40 miles an hour — 960 miles a 
day — let us see how long we would be in making the trip. Let us 
suppose, too, that we take with us on our train every man, woman and 
child in the United States — 60,000,000 people, we '11 say. — Why, Miss 
Inquisitive, I want to use them as mile-posts, if we may call a person 
a post, dropping off a man or a woman, or a boy or a girl, at each 
mile as we speed along. Yes, a rather odd idea, I'll confess ; but 
you '11 understand after awhile, why we are to suppose this. Now, at 
40 miles an hour, day and night, and never stopping for a single 
second, how long, do you guess, would it be before we should reach 
the moon ? — supposing the moon should happen to be directly on our 
course at the proper time for us to meet it, being thus directly between 
the earth and the sun, as it occasionally is, as you will learn, later. 
No — no — no — all wrong ; but I did n't expect anything'else, however, 
since you were guessing entirely in the dark, as it were ; I simply 
wanted a few guesses so as to surprise you the more, perhaps, with 
the real figures. Here, Ned, you may work out the problem for us. 
Taking the average distance of the moon from the earth — which 
distance I had not yet told you — as about 238,000 miles, how long 
would we be on the way between the earth and the moon, traveling as 
we have supposed at the rate of 40 miles an hour ? The moon, you 
see, is really quite close to us, as compared with the other bodies of 
the solar system and of the great universe, yet it is still a long distance 
from us. Well, Ned, let's see what you have. Ah, yes, that's 
correct, — it would require over 8 months of steady day and night 
traveling to reach the moon. A long trip, you think, eh ? Why, 
we 've hardly got fairly started, as you will soon learn ; yet if we 
should have dropped off our mile-posts regularly, we should have thus 
left behind us, already, as many people as we have in some of our 
fairly large and important cities. 



48 The Sun: — An Excursion to It, 

Passing by the moon without stopping, — as we will visit it again, 
— our train, we will suppose, continues on its way toward the sun, 
probably meeting with many of the very little bodies of the kind which, 
passing through the earth's atmosphere, become what we call the 
glowing meteors or shooting-stars, as I explained, last night. Possibly, 
too, we might meet, or pass near, a comet or two. But the first im- 
portant body we might meet would be the planet nearest us, Venus. 
However we could not meet this planet on this trip, I must state. You 
know our supposed railroad is a straight one from the earth to the sun, 
and of course we could only meet Venus in case she should reach the 
crossing of our railroad with her path around the sun at the same time 
that we should reach it — the earth, Venus and the sun lying then, you 
will see, in a straight line with each other. But owing to the difference 
in the times of revolution of the earth and Venus around the sun, and 
of tne difference in the degree of inclination — or leaning or tipping, as 
we called it last night — of their orbits or paths, it is only at long periods 
that these three bodies, the earth, Venus and the sun, happen to come 
thus in a straight line. At these times we can see Venus passing be- 
tween us and the sun, looking like a small, round, black spot against 
the sun's bright face. I told you, you will recollect, that the planets are 
not bright of themselves, but only appear bright or shining by reflect- 
ing the sunshine which falls upon them ; when Venus thus passes 
directly between us and the sun, the side on which the sun is shining 
is, of course, turned away from us and the planet has her dark side 
— her back, as it were — turned toward us, and it is for this reason that 
she appears as a round black spot on the sun. This passage directly 
between us and the sun, is called the tra?isit of Venus, and is an occur- 
rence of much importance to astronomers, as it is by observing this 
transit with special instruments, from different points on the earth, 
and then comparing the results of their observations, that the astron- 
omers have learned for us our distance from the sun. I had, I may say, 
a fine view of the last transit of Venus, as it occurred, where I then was, 
during a heavy forenoon snow storm which, while it did not hide the 
sun, so lessened its brightness that it could be looked at steadily, with- 
out having one's eyes dazzled in the least. I was thus able to watch 
the passage across it of the round black spot — Venus— during the 
whole time of the transit — five or six hours, if I rightly recollect. 
Although Venus is nearly as large as the earth, as I have told you, it 
appears, as thus looked at against the sun, as but a small round body, 
this being on account of its great distance from us. The date of this 
last transit was December 6, 1882; the last one before this was on Decem- 
ber 8, 1874, or 8 years earlier, and the next one will not occur until June 
7, 2004, or i2i>£ years later than this last one of 1882. The transits of 
Venus occur only in periods as follows:— 8 years— 121 >£ years — 8 years 
— 105^ years; then 8 years — 121^ years, etc., over and over again. As 
it will be 114^ years until the date of the next transit, it is hardly 
likely that any of us will get to witness it. 



The Sun: — An Excursion to It. 49 

So, we shall have no chance to stop at Venus station as our train 
speeds on and on toward the sun, since our train and Venus will not be 
at the crossing point at the same time. Supposing, however, that we 
have reached the point at which we should find Venus, if she were 
here, we will be now over 23,000,000 miles from home, as this is the 
closest that our earth and Venus ever come to each other; rather far- 
away neighbors, aren't we? Supposing we have been dropping off, all 
along, our living mile-posts our train would now be much less crowded, 
as the big party with which we set out would be reduced nearly one- 
half, as you can see. And how long, do you suppose, will we have 
been on the way? Take your pencil, again, Ned, and give us the fig- 
ures. — Yes, that's correct, although you look as though you were not 
half sure it is. Here it is, youngsters: — At 40 miles an hour, or 960 
miles a day, we will travel in a year, or 365^ days, 350,640 miles; and 
at this rate, to travel to Venus, by the shortest ' air-line route,' will re- 
quire — what do you think? — nearly 66 years! Ha, ha! how dreadfully 
astonished you look; you are ready to believe, now, in the necessity 
for sleeping and dining cars, and a big provision train, are n't you? 

Well, we must keep moving along, as we are yet still less than 
one-fourth the way to the sun. Mercury would be the next important 
body we might meet, if it should be at the place at which we cross its 
path at the same time we are. But as in the case of Venus, we shall 
not reach that point at the proper time to enable us to step off upon 
the planet to enjoy, by way of change, a little walk; I think we would 
all be quite willing to spend a day or two in walking should we have 
such an opportunity to do so, as the nearest the earth and Mercury 
ever approach each other is about 47,000,000 miles, to cover which dis- 
tance, even at the rate of 40 miles an hour, would have required — ah! 
I see you are at it, Ned; that's correct — we would have been on the 
way for over 134 years! And now you see the necessity for supposing 
we have been granted unusually long lives. 

Still on and on we go, with no other planets to meet—unless, in- 
deed, we should happen to find Vulcan. Vulcan is the name given to 
a supposed planet, which is even closer to the sun than is Mercury. 
Certain astronomers formerly supposed or believed there was such a 
planet, but it is not now so believed. It is not at all likely, therefore, 
that we shall meet, or even see, such a planet. So we may count upon 
an uninterrupted run to the sun. As we are at this time of the year the 
nearest to the sun, the 31st of December, the last day of the year, being 
the date, always, when we are the very closest to the sun, or, say, 
about 91,000,000 miles from it, we should, Ned, be how many years in 
reaching it, at our unceasing, 40-mile-an-hour rate of traveling? Very 
good— you are getting quite familiar with these calculations, Ned. 
According to Ned's figures, then— and they are correct— our trip from 
the earth to the sun will occupy about 260 years! or, if we had started 
on July 1, when we are 3,000,000 miles further from the sun, or about 



50 The Sun : — Its Size, Constitution, Etc. 

94,000,000 miles distant, we should be over 268 years in making the 
trip! — Dear me! I've heard a great many ' Oh-h-h! ' choruses from you, 
but that one certainly was the largest and longest by far. And, yet, 
youngsters, this great distance which would require so long a period 
of travel to reach it, is considered as but a small one by the astrono- 
mers. Indeed, they use this distance of the sun as a small and con- 
venient measure for the very much greater distances with which they 
become familiar, speaking of many thousands of times the ' sun's dis- 
tance ' as familiarly as we speak of the few miles' distance between 
f wo places. 

To go back a little, you will see that when only 60,000,000 miles on 
our way we would have exhausted our great supply of mile-posts; in other 
words, the great and boasted population of our whole country, if placed 
a mile apart, would not reach two-thirds of the distance to the sun, 
an illustration which may help us to form an idea of such a distance 
— which, Miss Inquisitive, is the reason I made use of what you termed 
an odd idea. Further, to supply mile-posts for the whole length of our 
' Earth & Sun Air Line Railroad ' we should have to borrow and take 
with us, besides all our own people, about three-fourths of all the people 
of France, or, of Great Britain and Ireland!" 



VII. 

THE SUN:— ITS SIZE, CONSTITUTION, ETC.— 
THE SPOTS, PROTUBERANCES, CORONA, ETC. 

"As we should approach the sun, on such a journey, we should find 
its light and heat becoming stronger and stronger until we should be 
unable to bear either; indeed, we should probably be thus overcome 
long before we should have even reached our nearest neighbor Venus. 
We can see, therefore, that if Venus is inhabited like the earth, the 
people would, no doubt, differ from us in at least their ability to bear 
the much greater degree of heat and light which they receive, as natu- 
rally as we bear that which we receive, here on the earth; and the 
same would be true in regard to the people who may live on Mercury, 
where the heat and light are so very much more intense. 

We should find, of course, that the sun would appear larger and 
larger as we approached it, year by year, until, supposing we were not 
burned up by the heat, or blinded by the light, we should find it a globe 
of vast size — one beside which our earth would be but a very, very 
small thing, indeed. 

How large? Well, we consider our world a pretty large affair, 
so large that the most of us never see more than a very small part of 



The Sun: — Its Size, Constitution, Etc. 



5i 



it, while we naturally have an extra measure of respect for those 
persons who have visited foreign lands, and especially for the very few 
who have been round the world and nearly all over it; but it would 
take a great many globes like our world to make one the size of the 
sun — no less than about 1,326,500 of them! Aha! that brings the 
'Ohs!' and the 'Mys!' as I expected. I may go further and tell you 
that, should we put all the planets together — big Jupiter and Saturn 




and all the rest,— the sun would be 540 times as large as the whole 
of them. 

Our earth, you Know, is nearly 8,000 miles in diameter— about 
7,918 miles, to be more exact— while the sun is about 870,000 miles 
in diameter; so, if the sun were hollow, our earth might be rattled 
around in it like one of baby's tiny beads in her toy balloon! Indeed, 
if the earth were at the center of the sun, the moon could circle around 
it, as it does now, at an average distance of about 238,000 miles, while 



52 The Sun : — Its Size, Constitution, Etc. 

there would still be a strip or belt about 200,000 miles wide, all around, 
between the path of the moon and the outside of the sun — as this 
picture I am drawing will show. 

However, the sun is not hollow, but is a solid body as is our earth 
— only it is much less solid or dense, as we should call it, than the 
earth, its density being but a little more than one-fourth that of the 
earth. But, by reason of its great size, the sun's weight is enormous, 
over 700 times that of all the planets, and other bodies of our system, 
together. It is this great superiority in weight, or mass, I should say, 
which enables it to hold the planets all in their courses as they unceas- 
ingly revolve around it — all in obedience to the wonderful and beautiful 
law of gravitation, God's law for the control of the great universe 
He has created! 

If we could stand upon the sun and look off into space, we should 
see the planets looking only like stars circling around us, each in its 
own path, one lying out in this direction, another in that, — not all on 
the same level, but some higher, some lower, on account of the inclina- 
tion or leaning of their paths, of which I have already spoken, some 
being in the upper, others in the lower part of their paths or orbits. 
Mercury would be seen fairly flying around, making the circuit of the 
sun in about 88 of our earth-days, Venus moving less swiftly, and 
next, our earth, still more slowly, occupying about 365X of our earth- 
days in making her circuit; and so on, each moving less swiftly, until 
we should see — if it were but possible for us to do so — we should see 
far-away Neptune, circling around most slowly of all. Each, too. 
would be turning round and round on its axis, each portion having 
day as it was turned so as to face the sun, and night as it again turned 
away from the sun and faced out into space in the opposite direction. 
We can see why a person, while facing toward the sun, as during the 
day, cannot, on account of its brightness, see the stars which lie far 
out beyond the sun in space; and how the stars which lie off in the 
other direction begin to ' come out ' as he is carried around, as the 
earth revolves, until the sun is hid from him and its light no longer 
interferes. We can. as you will understand, see the stars only in the 
part of the heavens opposite to that in which the sun is located, — we 
look off at night in a direction exactly opposite to that in which we look 
by day; but as we circle round the sun we are able, in the course of 
each year, to view the stars in every part of the heavens — just as we 
can see all the pictures on the walls, here, by turning round so as to 
face each part of the room in turn. 

We have been supposing, now, that we have been comfortably 
located upon the sun, watching the movements of the earth and other 
planets around it; but you will readily understand that we would 
hardly be very comfortable if on the sun, when I tell you that the heat 
of the sun on its own surface, is estimated to be about 300,000 times as 
great as we feel it here on our earth! — a degree of heat of which we 



The Sun: — Its Size^ Constitution, Etc. 53 

can form no idea. If we — I declare, young lady, if there is an extra 
hard question connected with any subject, that's the question, above 
all others, which is sure to pop into your mind — and out of it, as surely, 
through your lips. What makes the sun so hot? — a fine question, in- 
deed! one which has long puzzled the wisest heads, and which has not 
yet been settled beyond dispute. As the heat and light of the sun are 
constantly being thrown out into space, on all sides of the sun, and 
have been thus thrown out for untold ages — many millions of years it 
may be — you can see that its cause or source, whatever it may be, 
must be constant and inexhaustible. The quantity of heat constantly 
being sent out from the sun is enormous, that which our earth catches, 
as it were, or all the planets combined, catch, being but a very small 
part compared with that which fills the vast expanse of space lying 
between the planets, on all sides of the sun. Many conjectures, opin- 
ions and theories have been offered regarding the source or cause of 
this enormous volume of heat given off by the sun. Some persons 
have supposed the sun is burning up, and so burning out, as it would 
if composed of combustible material like our coal ; but this theory is 
no longer accepted. Others have supposed the heat and light of the 
sun to be caused by electricity — as we see it in our electric lights ; but 
this theory is not accepted either. Another theory, once pretty gen- 
erally accepted, is, that the sun by its great power of attraction draws 
into it vast numbers of meteors and comets, with which it is constantly 
surrounded, and it is the striking of these bodies against the sun, as they 
are drawn with tremendous speed and force into it, which produces 
the heat. I may state — what you will understand better, when older 
— that the sudden stoppage of motion of any kind changes the motion 
into heat — something which is constantly occurring around us, every 
day, but which is not ordinarily noticed ; you may prove my statement, 
however, by hammering rapidly and forcibly upon a piece of iron and 
then placing your hand upon the head of the hammer. The constant 
pouring in upon the sun of these meteors, etc., — or bombardment of it, 
we may call it, by them — would generate or produce a large amount of 
heat, no doubt ; yet, though this may account for a part of it, it is not 
now believed to be the principal cause or source of the sun's heat. 
The opinion — or theory, I should call it — now most fully accepted by 
astronomers and other scientific men is, that the sun is slowly shrink- 
ing, or growing smaller — very slowly, I should add ; too slowly to be 
noticed, even by the watchful astronomers, with their great telescopes 
— and as a consequence of this shrinking — as you will also understand 
better, later — the great heat of the sun is produced, aided to some extent, 
probably, by the falling upon it of the meteors and comets. According to 
this theory, the sun to the very center of its great mass, is in an intensely 
heated condition, but is not being burned up as coal is burned up. 

I may add that, in support of the belief that the sun's heat and 
light is due to electricity, we have the statement from Prof. Swift that 



54 The Sun : — Its She, Constitution, Ete. 

he noticed, during an eclipse occurring a few years ago, what he con- 
siders great lines of electricity streaming off from the sun. But 
whether or not the sun's heat is due to electricity, it is certain that the 
sun is the great center of electric force — a fact to which I may refer a 
little later. 

But whatever its source, this we know, that all life on our earth, 
from that of the tiniest blade of grass to that of man himself, depends 
upon the heat sent to us by the sun ; without it all would be death — 
ours would be a dead world ! Remember this, next summer, when 
tempted to complain about the hot weather. 

The degree of heat sent out by the sun is probably pretty nearly 
the same at all times, the difference which we notice between summer 
and winter being due, as I have already told you, I believe, to the fact 
that our part of the earth is turned less fairly toward the sun during 
our winter months, and the sunshine which brings us the heat falls upon 
us then in a slanting direction, instead of almost straight down upon 
us as during our summer months. If the axis of the earth were not 
inclined — or tilted — toward the earth's path round the sun, giving these 
changes of position of the different parts of the earth as regards the 
sun, we would have no change of seasons, but each part of the earth 
would receive the same degree of heat, and so have the same season, 
all the year round, forever — a condition of things not to be desired, at 
all. In this matter, as in everything else in the great universe, we are 
made to see the wonderful wisdom of the great Creator in always suit- 
ing means to the securing of certain necessary ends. 

As in regard to the matter of the source of the sun's heat and light 
there is, or has been, much difference of opinion as to the constitution 
of the sun — that is as to the elements of which it composed. Without 
taking up these different opinions or theories, I will give the generally 
accepted facts in regard to the matter. By the use of an instrument 
called the spectroscope — which I shall not now try to describe or ex- 
plain to you — it has been ascertained that the sun contains very many 
of the elements contained by our earth, as iron, zinc, hydrogen, etc. 
But as the sun's density is only about one-fourth that of our earth, 
as I have already told you, it is believed that but a comparatively 
small portion of the sun is of a solid or liquid nature, the greater part 
of it being of the nature of vapor or gas. Of the solid portion of it, 
however much or little of it there may be, nothing is positively known, 
as it is at the center, surrounded and covered up by the gaseous por- 
tion ; it is, however, supposed to be in an intensely heated state, as I 
have already told you. It is believed that there is an atmosphere — 
very different from ours, however — next to the solid center, in which 
float layers of clouds at different levels — that is, at different distances 
from the solid body of the sun, below. The upper part of this atmos- 
phere is intensely hot and intensely luminous, or bright; it is called the 
photosphere. Outside of this again is another atmosphere, or envelope 



The Sun :~Its Size, Constitution, Etc. 55 

as it is termed, of a transparent, gaseous nature— to some extent, per- 
haps, similar to our own atmosphere. 

To the astronomer, aided by his great telescope which appears to 
bring everything so much nearer, the sun presents very many strange 
appearances. The whole surface of the sun presents what is described 
as a mottled appearance, as though it were made up of great, rough 
points with cavities between them. These points are the brightest 




GREAT GROUP OF S'JN SPOTS. 
The sun, June 18, 1885, photographed by Henry C. Maine. 



parts of the sun's surface, which has led some astronomers to believe 
that it is chiefly from these rough points that the sun's, light and heat 
are radiated, or thrown off into space. 

There are frequently seen on the face of the sun great, ragged black 
spots — perhaps some of you have heard mention made of sun spots. 
They are irregularly-shaped patches with a black center called the 
nucleus, around which is a border less dark called the umbra, and outside 



56 The Sun: — Its Size, Constitution^ Etc. 

of this again a grayish border called the penumbra. Sometimes, how- 
ever, some one of these parts may not be present. These spots vary in 
size from very small ones to others 50,000 to nearly 200,000 miles in 
diameter. These large spots may sometimes be seen by the eye alone. 
I remember to have once watched at intervals, for an hour or two, 
some very large sun spots, a heavy fog obscuring the sun sufficiently 
to admit of one's looking at it without being dazzled by the light, as 
would be the case, ordinarily. I should say, just here, that should you 
want to look at the sun, at any time when it is shining brightly, use a 
piece of colored glass, or, still better, smoked glass, through which 
you may examine it without injury to your eyes. 

There has been much speculation in regard to sun spots — their 
cause, nature, etc. It is generally accepted, however, that they are 
openings in one or more of the atmospheres surrounding the sun 
caused, probably, by currents of vapor forcing their way upward and 
outward from the highly-heated interior; the black central portion of 
the spot is what may be seen of the solid body of the sun or of one of 
the interior cloud-layers, as we look down into the opening, the lighter 
bordering portions being the edges of the overlying atmospheres. 
Near the spots, too, are commonly seen very bright streaks or ridges; 
these are called /aculte^ and are supposed to be the luminous atmos- 
phere, of photosphere, heaped up around the edges of the opening 
which the rising vapor has made through it. These bright streaks or 
f aculae are sometimes seen crossing the spots like bridges, dividing them 
into two or more parts. 

The spots move across the face of the sun, about 14 days being 
required for such passage, reappearing again about 14 days later — 
when they reappear at all; for, I should state, they are not permanent, 
but sooner or later disappear; some last for but a very short time — a 
few hours, perhaps — though others may remain for several weeks or 
even months, making several trips around the sun. It is the turning 
of the sun on its axis which causes the spots to thus move forward, the 
spots not going forward of themselves, but being carried around by 
the turning of the sun, as we are carried around by the turning of the 
earth on its axis. It was this movement of the spots which led to the 
discovery of the fact that the sun does thus turn on its axis, which it 
does once in about 25H of our days. 

The spots are constantly changing in size and shape, though some 
of them preserve the same form, in general, for a long time. These 
changes may be due to the continued rushing through the openings in 
the atmospheres of vapors from the interior outward, or of currents 
from the outside toward the interior. Their form is affected, too, by 
great storms of some kind which sweep over the sun. 

Sun spots are not always present, as there may be several days, 
or possibly weeks, in which none will be seen; they are, however, to 
be seen during the greater part of the time. Last summer, I may add, 



The Sun: — Its Size, Constitution, Etc. 



57 



was noted for the number of sun spots seen, the newspapers giving 
frequent accounts of them. It has been discovered that there are 
certain periods at which they are more numerous than at other times. 
About every n^ years in succession they are very numerous; they 
then become fewer in number for 5 or 6 years, when they begin to 
increase in number, again, continuing to do so for about the same 
length of time, or up to the full period of n^ years. There is, too, a 
long period, or cycle we call it, of about 56 years in which the sun spots 




THE ROSE-COLORED ARCH AT SUNSET. 

The rosy sunset of November 22, 1885, photographed by Henry C. Maine, show- 
ing the rosy arch and the brilliant light below it near the sun. 



show this increase, every 56th year of this series being remarkable for 
the number of the sun spots present. 

There seems to be a very close connection between these periods 
of numerous sun spots and the occurrence of very marked electrical 
displays here on our earth. Telegraphic and other electrical instru- 
ments are sometimes very seriously affected and even for a time ren- 
dered useless; it has thus been found impossible, at times, to send 
messages over the wires. The precise nature of this relation between 
sun spots and the earth's electrical forces is not understood; when, if 



58 The Sun : — Its Size, Constitution, Etc. 

ever, it shall be learned, it will no doubt be another source of wonder 
to us. That strange and beautiful appearance known as the aurora 
boreal is, or *northerndights? as it is commonly called, which is seen at 
night in the northern sky is also affected by the sun spots, being always 
brightest and presenting the most startling effects at these times of 
the greatest abundance of the spots. That these northern lights are 
largely if not wholly of electrical origin is now generally believed. 

Some of the older ones among you may remember the wonderful 
red sunsets or red lights which occurred in the autumn and winter of 
1S83; I am sure your parents and older brothers and sisters remember 
them, as they were the common topic of conversation for weeks, and 
the newspapers were full of the matter, every day. Nothing like these 
red sunsets has since occurred, nor is it known that they ever occurred 
before. The light was very bright and reached far up into the sky, 
continuing, too, long after sunset. Many people were seriously alarmed 
about the matter, not knowing what caused the fiery skies at night or 
what it might portend — as, indeed, nobody did. During the day, too, 
there was a bright circle, or halo, about the sun, while to persons 
living near the equator the sun appeared of a green color. One 
explanation since offered is, that our whole atmosphere was filled with 
a very fine dust or powder, sent up during the eruption of a great vol- 
cano — Krakatoa, on the island of Java, in the straits of Sunda — which 
so affected the sunlight passing through it as to give us the almost blood 
red glow in the sky after sunset and before sunrise. But it was noticed 
by astronomers that during the period of a year or more that these 
red lights were noticed the sun was unusually active, spots were very 
numerous and great storms swept over its surface. 

Mr. Henry Maine, of Rochester, New York, who carefully watched 
and noted everything connected with these strange appearances, has 
prepared a paper upon the subject which establishes the fact of a very 
close and remarkable connection between the appearance of large 
numbers of sun spots, usually arranged in several groups, and of the 
great storms on the sun, and the appearance of the red lights and of 
the occurrence of heavy storms in various parts of the earth. The 
light was not seen every night, but would occasionally be absent for 
one or more nights. These periods of absence agreed remarkably with 
the periods of comparative quiet on the sun ; but with the occur- 
rence of another great sun storm or the appearance of a great sun spot 
or group of spots the red light at once reappeared, storms also oc- 
curred, and electrical disturbances of all kinds were very noticeable, — 
on one occasion even driving telegraph operators from their instru- 
ments, in some places, according to the reports, on the day following 
storms upon the sun. Taking it altogether, his observations go very 
far to prove the existence of a very close connection, indeed, between 
sun storms and sun spots and various disturbances upon our planet. 
Some day, perhaps, the matter will be fully understood ; as yet. it 



The Sun :— Its Size, Constitution, Etc. 59 

but affords material for conjectures, which may finally lead to the 
discovery of the truth. Scientific men, astronomers, electricians and 
others, are familiar with this fact of the relation between the sun's 
spots and storms and our earth-storms, and much has been written 
in regard to it. 

But besides spots there are other curious appearances connected 
with the sun, many of which are noticed only under special conditions. 
At the time of an eclipse of the sun, especially, some remarkable ap- 
pearances are presented.— An eclipse? Well, I'll tell you about eclipses 
more particularly to-morrow evening, but will only say now that an 
eclipse of the sun is a hiding from us of a part or the whole of its sur- 
face by the moon coming directly between us and the sun — some- 
thing which occasionally happens. Sometimes the moon does not 
come so fairly between us and the sun as to hide the whole of the sun, 
in which case the eclipse is called a partial one ; at other times it 
comes so fairly between us and the sun that the sun is entirely hidden, 
in which case the eclipse is called a total one. It is at the time of a 
total eclipse of the sun, that the strange appearances are observed ; 
they are there all the time, I should add, but it is only at the time of 
an eclipse, when the bright body of the sun which we ordinarily see is 
covered over and thus hidden by the moon, that we are able to see 
other parts of it. The sun, as we commonly see it, appears, as you 
know, as a dazzliugly bright, round body, with no indication of the 
existence of any other part outside of the perfectly round bright part, 
or the photosphere, which we see ; but when, in an eclipse, the moon 
hides this round bright part of the sun, there can then be seen sur- 
rounding it another part, called the chromosphere. This chromosphere 
is of a red color, being a mass of blazing hydrogen gas extending out 
from the photosphere, the part of the sun we commonly see, for a 
distance of 5,000 or 6,000 miles, on all sides — a great ocean of the 
fiercest fire. Over it sweep storms of such violence that our wildest 
and most furious hurricanes are tame in comparison. Speaking of 
these storms Prof. Newcomb, the eminent astronomer, says: 'We 
must remember that our hurricanes blow only a hundred miles an 
hour, while those of the chromosphere blow as far in a single 
second ! ' and then adds that, should such a hurricane occur on our 
earth, it would sweep entirely across the United States from the St. 
Lawrence river to the Gulf of Mexico in half a minute ! carrying 
with it everything upon the earth's surface, cities and towns included, 
in a mass, ' not simply of ruin, but of glowing vapor, in which the 
vapors arising from the dissolution of the materials composing the 
cities of Boston, New York and Chicago would be mixed in a single 
indistinguishable cloud ! ' Think of such a fiery storm as should 
thus in the twinkling of an eye completely, utterly destroy everything, 
even great cities, leaving only a cloud of vapor of all that was there a 
moment before ! Speaking of the terrific eruptions taking place upon 



6o 



The Sun: — Its Size, Constitution, Etc. 



the sun. the same astronomer says : ' When we speak of eruptions, 
we call to mind Vesuvius burying the surrounding cities in lava, 
but the solar eruptions, thrown 50,000 miles high, would engulf 
the earth and dissolve every organized being on its surface in a 
moment ! ' These statements give us at least a faint conception of 
the tremendous activity of the great life-giver of our system— the sun. 




ACTINIC ENERGY ABOUT A SOLAR STORM. 

The sun, June 20, 1885, at noon, photographed by Henry C. Maine. The great 
gToup of spots was about 110,000 miles long-. The actinic energy in the region 
about the sun storm was so intense that other parts of the sun are left in shadow. 
Upon the 20th destructive storms swept the northern states. 

Whether as a result of the terrific storms or eruptions, or of some 
other cause, this mass of burning gas, surrounding the sun to the 
height I have stated— 5,000 or 6,000 miles— is often forced outward in 
parts so as to form as it were great mountains and peaks of flame, 
rising many thousands of miles above the general surface. These 



The Sun: — Its Size, Constitution, Etc. 61 

mountains or peaks of red burning gas are called by the astronomers, 
for want of a more fitting or particular name, prominences or protuber- 
ances. They rise, or are forced up rapidly to a height of 50,000 miles — 
100,000 miles — 200,000 miles, or even more, above the general surface 
of the burning mass, one being observed, in 1880, to reach in a few 
minutes the tremendous height of 350,000 miles, rising at the astonish- 
ing rate of 200 miles a second ! These protuberances of burning gas 
have various and fantastic shapes. Sometimes they shoot up like 
jets or plumes, sometimes like great fountains, or, spreading out at 
the top, take the form of gigantic trees ; sometimes they become 
detached or entirely cut off from the mass of fire below, appearing 
then as great fiery clouds. They change shape constantly and 
rapidly, and frequently suddenly appear, shoot upward to a great 
height, perhaps 50,000 miles or more, and as suddenly disappear, all 
within a few minutes. Very few of them last more than an hour, 
although some have been known to last for a number of days. The 
one which reached the enormous height mentioned a moment ago, 
after assuming a number of shapes entirely disappeared within two 
hours of the time it was formed. On one occasion an astronomer, 
while observing a great prominence which he estimated to be 100,000 
miles long and 54,000 miles high, saw it suddenly blown to pieces by 
some tremendous explosion, the long tongues or sheets of flame into 
which it was divided by the force of the explosion shooting up to a 
height of 200,000 miles ! 

Another feature, and one, too, seen only during the time of a 
total eclipse, is one of the most remarkable, as it is the most dazzlingly 
and startlingly beautiful one, connected with our sun. It is what is 
known as the corona, a peculiar and indescribable circle of light which 
surrounds the sun and extends outward, as sometimes seen, nearly 
10,000,000 miles from it. While this strange surrounding brightness 
may be seen by the naked eye, it is only when viewed through a pow- 
erful telescope that its marvelous beauty is revealed. As thus observed, 
great lines or streams of light are seen shooting far out from the body 
of the sun (which is then hidden behind the moon), and sometimes as- 
suming a pointed shape, like a huge star. As it is only during the very 
short time— two or three minutes— when the sun is thus entirely hidden 
by the moon that this wonderful and beautiful appearance, the corona, 
is to be seen, there is but little time given the astronomer to study it 
with a view to discovering its nature or cause. Says Prof. Swift: 
'No tongue, however eloquent, nor pen, however graphic, can ade- 
quately describe those radiant pennons, white as burnished silver, 
streaming off several hundred thousand miles into space. In the 
whole range of telescopic vision there is no greater marvel than they 
present.' Here is a photograph of the corona, taken during the 
eclipse of 1858, from which we can form a faint idea of the beauty 
and grandeur of the corona as actually witnessed by the astronomers. 



62 The Sun : — Its Size, 'Constitution, Etc. 

Of course, these strange waving and changing streamers and ban- 
ners of light, which we call the corona, are always thus about the sun, 
but it is only during the brief time of the complete hiding of the 
sun during the eclipse that they can be seen. What the corona is, is 
largely a mystery, though it is, with good reason, believed to be the 
reflection of the light from the central body of the sun, by small par- 
ticles of matter — very minute bodies, or dust or vapor— surrounding the 
sun to a very great distance. To view the corona and to make other ob- 
servations, astronomers go thousands of miles, and often to the most 
out-of-the-way places among mountains or the islands of the ocean, to 
be at a point, during an eclipse, where the sun will be e?itirely covered 
by the moon— as only to a very small portion of our earth is the sun 




CORONA OF ECLIPSE OF 1858 (BRAZIL). 

thus entirely hidden during any eclipse. By the way, such a total 
eclipse occurred last Sunday, the 22d — No, of course you did n't see 
it, nor did anybody in the United States. But people within a certain 
strip of the earth's surface lying in the southern hemisphere, extending 
from the eastern coast of South America across the Atlantic ocean to 
Africa saw it, excepting at points where clouds may have interfered. 
We did not see it here, that is, we had no eclipse here, because the 
position of the moon was such that it did not come between us and 
the sun on this pa'rt of the earth, although coming between the sun 
and the part of the earth mentioned; sometimes, however, we see an 
eclipse while other parts of the world do not, the matter depending en- 
tirely upon the position of the earth and moon at the time. We shall 
probably soon have reports of what was seen, from the astronomers 



The Sun: — What It has Done and is Doing for Us. 63 

who went from different countries to points from which the eclipse was 
visible. Great preparations, I may add, were made by our govern- 
ment, and the governments of other countries, to properly view last 
Sunday's eclipse. The party of astronomers sent out by our govern- 
ment went to a point in the interior of the southern part of Africa, 
taking with them instruments with which to make various kinds of ob- 
servations, including photographic apparatus with which to secure 
pictures of the corona, etc. I will tell you something more about 
eclipses at another time. 

I have already spoken of the zodiacal light, that mysterious lumin- 
ous appearance which is now believed to surround the sun as a great 
ring at a distance from it of about 200,000,000 miles, and which is re- 
garded, in a sense, as a part of the sun, or, at least, of its especial 
surroundings; I need not, therefore, say more about it here." 



VIII. 

THE SUN:— WHAT IT HAS DONE AND IS DOING 

FOR US. 

" We have, then, briefly considered everything that is known about 
the sun,— though to tell the truth the greater part of what I have just 
told you about it is, after all, not known, but only believed (though 
probably correctly) to be as represented. Some day, perhaps, our 
knowledge may be more full and perfect, as many of earth's most 
learned men are at work unceasingly, untiringly, seeking to learn the 
truth in regard to the wonders of the universe so far as it may be 
possible for man to understand the great Creator's work. You can 
realize how difficult it is to determine and settle beyond question 
many points in regard to the sun, when I state that the most powerful 
telescopes show the sun only as it would appear to our naked eye at 
a distance of 200,000 miles. Slowly but surely, however, progress has 
been, and is being made, and one point after another has been, or is 
being, settled, so that we hope to yet have some of the now doubtful 
matters made plain to us. 

But while we may be in doubt as to what the sun is, how its awful 
heat has been for ages produced and is still being produced, etc., we 
are not left in doubt as to many of the wonderful effects of the heat 
and light which it is constantly sending out to us and to all the 
planets and other bodies included in our system of worlds. I have 
already stated that, without the sun's heat and light, our world would 
be cold and dead, utterly devoid of life, but we are not only indebted 



64 The Sun : — What It has Done and is Doing for Us. 

to the sun for sustaining our lives day by day, but we are directly 
indebted to it, and to an extent which we cannot even begin to esti- 
mate, for this same life-giving and life-sustaining energy sent out, as 
it is still being sent out, to-day, through perhaps many millions of 
years. We are receiving every day in many ways, though all unknown 
to perhaps the majority of people, the benefit of the heat and light 
which our earth received from the sun ages ago, when the earth was 
being prepared and fitted up as a dwelling place for man. It is, 
strange as it may seem, the sunshine of ages ago which is this 
moment giving us warmth and light in this pleasant room — it is the 
sunshine of ages ago which thus gives warmth and light to homes 
all over our earth, which drives all our machinery, and which carries 
us in railroad trains and steamships to any part of the world, or 
around it, for that matter. The long-ago sunshine has simply been 
bottled up, as it were, in — Oh, yes ; I see you have n't forgotten, Ned, 
what we learned two or three years ago in regard to the origin of 
petroleum and natural gas, coal and similar substances. As some of 
you were not with us in our excursion to the oil and gas fields, three 
years ago, and to the coal fields the following year, I suppose I should 
explain, briefly, some things which the others of you had explained 
to you, more fully, at the time. The great beds of coal which we now 
find more or less deeply buried in the earth, beneath beds of rock, 
were at one time, long before man was created — ages ago, indeed — 
great and dense forests or jungles of tropical trees and plants — ferns, 
etc. — growing upon what was then the surface of the earth, and 
deriving their life and growth from the sunshine which streamed off 
from the sun then as it does now. Later, these forests sank by reason 
of great earthquakes or other disturbances, and the waters of the 
ocean swept in over them, carrying with them sand, etc., which 
covered the sunken forests. In the course of a long — a very, very 
long — time, these beds of sand, etc., thus washed in, became the 
great beds or layers of rock which we now find on top of the coal-beds, 
while at the same time, the buried forests or jungles were as slowly 
changed by reason of the great pressure of these rock beds above and 
by heat received in part from this pressure and in part from the fiery 
interior of the earth, into what are now our beds of coal. 

These changes, of which it has taken me but a minute to tell you, 
occupied a wonderfully long period — such a number of years, accord- 
ing to the geologists, as you could not comprehend should I give it. 
However, I think you will understand the point I wish to make — that 
the sunshine of ages ago formed the beautiful trees and ferns of the 
forests and jungles; that these, deeply buried in the earth, were 
changed into coal; and that to-day the brave and brawny men who 
spend so great a part of their lives in the dark and dismal mines, so 
far from the beautiful sunshine, are really digging out, in the great, 
rough blocks of coal, sunshine itself — the sunshine of millions of years 



The Sun : — What It has Done and is Doing for Us, 65 

ago, bottled or locked up in the black coal-beds that we may enjoy the 
blessings of its use, to-day ! How wonderfully God has provided for 
us ! When, therefore, we burn our coal in our stoves or grates to 
warm our houses, or in the form of gas to light them, or burn it in the 
furnaces of mills and factories, or under the boilers of the locomotives 
or steamships which carry us wherever we may choose to go, we are 
after all, simply using sunshine — we are simply getting back from the 
coal, as God designed we should, the heat and light which His sun- 
shine put into the trees and ferns of so long, long ago. It is a wonderful 
truth — and truth as beautiful as wonderful. It sounds like a fairy- 
story — but who ever heard fairy-story half so wonderful ? 

So, too, with the oil and gas pouring from the wells we visited 
— produced, as we have the best reasons to believe, from those 
same old-time forests, and by the same causes, which produced the 
coal, the heavier part we now call coal remaining where it was first 
buried and the lighter part escaping as oil or gas to the beds of porous 
rock from which we get them through the wells drilled to them. Our 
lamplight is, then, really sunlight — the sun still brightly shining in the 
dark hours of the night, long after he has disappeared behind the 
western hills, but shining with the bright beams sent to our earth 
and into the trees and plants untold ages ago ! From the oil fields of 
Pennsylvania is sent, in rough cans or barrels, to the uttermost parts of 
the earth, what we call petroleum, or oil ; but it is really God's 
beautiful sunshine, stored up for us all these years — and only God 
himself can measure the sunshine of cheerfulness and comfort which 
this real sunshine from Pennsylvania's oil-wells has brought into 
millions of homes the world over ! 

It would seem, and we can readily believe, that as nothing has 
been created in vain, so nothing is lost, in God's great universe. The 
same sunshine which streams down to us to-day streamed down to 
our earth, we are told, millions of years ago ; yet it was not lost, but 
is enjoyed by us, to-day, in many ways — indeed, we could not do 
without it. We can believe, then, that the vast amount of energy, in 
the form of heat and light, which goes streaming out into space un- 
ceasingly — our earth and all the bodies of our system combined 
receiving, as I have already told you, but a small portion of it as 
compared with the mighty tide which flows between them — we can 
believe, I say, that this all has its use and purpose, though it be un- 
known to us. 

How far into space the sun's heat and light travel — how far its 
influence extends and is felt, are questions far beyond our power to 
answer. To what unimaginable distances must the swift-flying comets 
go, that it should be ten years — a hundred years — a thousand years — yes 
more than a hundred thousand years, as calculated for some of them, 
before they again get back to the sun ! and yet the sun's power has 
followed these roving children of his in their wonderful flight, and 



66 The Sun: — What It has Done and is Doing for Us. 

finally brings them back again to be held, as it were, close to his great 
warm heart for a little time, as they swing around him. before they 
speed away again upon their journey — to us unknown, but marked by 
Him who ' sitteth on the circle of the heavens ' ! 

How this all-controlling power of the sun which enables him to 
hold the planets, the comets, etc., in their courses, though flying 
through space with tremendous speed and at distances of multiplied 
millions of miles from him. permitting them to go just so far away 
from him and then drawing them back again, so as to cause them to 
forever circle round and round him nor ever ' swing an inch out of 
place, nor a second out of time,' is a deep question, indeed. True, we say 
it is by the law of gravitation. But what, then, is gravitation? — simply 
a name which we have given to something which we do not understand. 
We know that there is a law of the universe which causes all bodies to 
attract all other bodies — and the discovery of the existence of this law 
has made Newton's name immortal: we see. too, and can calculate, 
the effects produced by this law. and although we do not understand 
how it is exerted, we must have a name for it by which we may speak 
of it, and so we call it gravitation, — just as we call another force, the 
existence of which we know, and the workings of which we see, but do 
not understand, electricity. But. after all, these are but names, conven- 
ient terms by which we may speak of these great forces — and by the 
use of which we may not only express the little we know about these 
things, but sometimes conceal our ignorance concerning the much we 
have yet to learn. 

But a name, only, does not satisfy us — we want to know all that is 
back of it. To tell an intelligent man who has never heard of the 
steam engine — supposing we could find such a man, these days — that 
the hundreds of machines of various kinds, in a great factory, were 
driven by steam, would not satisfy him — not at all. Not seeing any 
steam about the machines, and knowing, further, that steam, of itself, 
could not make these machines run. he would at once seek to learn 
how the steam was made to do this work, and how and by whom its 
power was directed. So. when we behold with amazement the perfect 
working of the far more wonderful machinery, as we may term it, of 
the great universe, and are told that all its parts are controlled by 
gravitation, we are not satisfied with the answer — we want to know 
how and by whom this force called gravitation is directed. We behold, 
first, our own system, with its great central sun, around which con- 
stantly circle eight great worlds, with their moons, hundreds of smaller 
worlds, the asteroids — 'pocket-worlds,' some one calls them — millions 
of the far-ranging comets, and millions of millions of those tiny 
bodies which are too small to be seen only as they flash out as meteors 
or shooting stars as they pass through our atmosphere— we see all 
this, and we wonder; we are, next, to think of our wonderful system 
as but one of unnumbered millions of such systems, being told by the 



The Wonders of the Sunbeam, 6j 

astronomers that each of the far-away stars is a sun, like ours, and 
probably surrounded by a similar system of circling worlds, etc. — and 
our wonder grows; further, we are told that just as the worlds circle 
around the sun, in each system, so each one of these numberless sys- 
tems, our own included, is, as a whole, itself in motion, all circling, 
in vast orbits, around some far, far-distant center — and growing won- 
der turns to amazement; and, finally, when we consider that it is the 
attraction back and forth between all these bodies, great and small, of 
all these countless systems that holds our own world and each and 
every body of all this mighty and ever swiftly-flying host so delicately 
yet so securely poised in space that not one can ever go astray, our 
amazement is unbounded: knowing, now, that the elements which 
compose the worlds as we see these elements in the form of rocks or 
earth, or water or gases — things which we may use as we please every day 
— knowing that these have no power of themselves to thus uphold them- 
selves and to guide and control all the multiplied and complex move- 
ments of the universe, we, like the man who is simply told that steam 
moves the wonderful machinery he sees, are not satisfied with the 
answer made to our wondering inquiry — we are not satisfied to be told 
simply that all this wonderful work we behold is the result of what is 
called the law of gravitation, we want to know who directs and controls 
the workings of this wonderful law — the great Master Mechanic who 
constructed this wonderful machinery of the universe and controls its 
marvelous workings — and we are brought face to face with the truth 
that it all can be the perfect handiwork of only the one all-wise and 
all-powerful God the Creator! " 



IX. 
THE WONDERS OF THE SUNBEAM. 

" One of the most curious as well as wonderful things connected 
with the sun, is the manner in which its light and heat are carried to 
our earth and elsewhere throughout our system, and as far beyond as 
it may reach. They are brought to us from the sun by vibrations, as 
they are called, or, in other words, in the form of tiny waves — waves 
too tiny, indeed, for us to form an idea of their tininess, their wonder- 
ful littleness, there being more than 64,000 of these little waves or 
vibrations within the length of a single inch, in the case of the waves 
or vibrations which give us the color of violet — each color throughout 
the whole range of the numberless shades and tints, as in flowers 
and ribbons, being produced, I should state, by a difference in the num- 
ber of these tiny waves or vibrations of light, each shade having its 



68 The Wanders of the Sunbeam. 

own number. Ah, yes! I thought that would interest you — especially 
the girls. I suppose I shall have to try to answer some of your ques- 
tions about the matter, but won't promise to answer all, as I don't 
want to talk all night. 

I may begin by stating that heat and motion are, in a very impor- 
tant sense, the same thing. Heat means motion — it is a form of mo- 
tion. Any heated body, as, for instance, a bar of red-hot iron, is in 
motion within itself, though we may not see this motion — its particles 
swinging and striking against each other with the greatest rapidity, the 
whole body being in a tremble, as it were, or, more properly speaking, 
in a state of rapid or intense vibration. Our sun, being so highly heated, 
is thus in a state of the most intense vibration, and the light and heat 
come to us thus in tiny waves or vibrations, as I told you, because of 
the vibration of the sun itself. I should tell you that space — which I 
have called emptiness, and which may in a sense be even so considered — 
is filled with a something which is called ether (but not the liquid ether 
you get at the drug store) and it is the vibrations of this ether given to it 
by the vibrating sun which bring to us the sun's light and heat. The light 
and heat come to us thus together, but only the more* rapid vibrations 
give us light. In the sunshine which falls upon and around us there 
are to be found seven colors, though as the sunshine comes to us these 
colors are all combined so that it is simply white light. But by passing 
this white sunlight through a three-sided piece of glass, called a prism 
— most of you, I suppose, have seen prisms and have looked through 
them to see the rainbow colors — by passing sunshine through such a 
piece of glass the colors of which the light is composed are separated, 
and we have seven colors instead of the simple white light of the sun- 
shine, as before. These colors run from red through orange, yellow, 
green, blue and indigo to violet, red being the color produced by a 
rapidity of vibrations less than that of any of the others, and violet 
by the most rapid vibrations of which our eyes can catch the color. 
A piece of iron placed in the fire first becomes red, after it has become 
so hot as to vibrate with the degree of rapidity which produces the red 
color, while, if we increase its heat the number of vibrations will be 
increased in proportion until we might run through the whole scale of 
colors. Color, I should tell you, is altogether in our eyes, not in the 
things we see, and which we say are red or blue, as the case may be; 
color is produced in the eye as the effect of the falling upon it of the 
vibrations of light, the different rates of rapidity of the vibrations 
giving the effect of different colors, a certain number of vibrations 
always producing the same color in the eye. The rapidity of the 
vibrations of light as it is carried to us from the sun is astonishing, 
indeed. The effect of red is produced in our eyes by the falling upon 
them of as many as 392,000,000,000,000 vibrations every second ! while, 
still more marvelous, 754,000,000,000,000 vibrations every second pro- 
duce the effect of violet !— the other shades named, as well as all other 



The Wonders of the Sunbeam. 69 

imaginable tints being produced by numbers of vibrations between 
those producing red and violet. Every moment, excepting when we 
have our eyes closed or are in the dark, this wonderful tide of vibra- 
tions is surging against our eyes, tjie combinations changing with 
every movement of our eyes, which brings new objects into view. 
Think of the number of vibrations that must pour into our eyes every 
instant while looking at a bouquet or bed of many colored flowers, at 
our pictures or carpets, or — most gorgeous of all — this piece of 
4 crazy ' patch-work, which is the delight of womankind old and 
young. 

And yet, as I have already said, color is altogether in our eyes. 
This ribbon at Nell's throat has no color of its own; but it receives 
and holds all the vibrations which come to it from the sun — or from 
this gas light which, after all, is old-time sunshine, as I have told you 
— it receives all vibrations excepting the 653,000,000,000,000 per 
second which produce a certain color, and these it reflects or throws 
back, producing that color in our eyes, and we say the ribbon is blue. 
This spot in the carpet we say is green, because it receives and holds 
all vibrations but the 610,000,000,000,000 per second which are re- 
flected, and entering our eye produce the effect of green, — and so it is 
with any other color. Light travels at the wonderful speed of about 
186,000 miles per second ; so, every second there enters our eyes, in 
the form of these tiny waves or vibrations, a stream of light 186,000 
miles long ! Traveling at this rate, it requires but a little more than 
eight minutes for a wave of light leaving the sun to reach our earth, 
so that while we should watch the sun for that brief time, a stream of 
light equal to our distance of nearly 93,000,000* miles from the sun would 
come dashing, wave after wave, into our eyes ! 

Our heat comes to us with our light, though the vibrations which 
produce the effect of the colors in our eye — the colorific or color 
vibrations, we call them — bring to us less heat than do other vibra- 
tions which we cannot see as we can see the color vibrations. The 
vibrations producing the violet color bring the least heat, the amount 
increasing down through the list to those producing red, which is the 
warmest color. But the greater part of our heat is brought to us, as 
I have said, by vibrations which come to us less rapidly than those 
which are able to produce the effect of color, and are, therefore, not 
seen; and just as there are different shades of color, as produced by 
different degrees of rapidity in the color vibrations, so there are 
different kinds of heat, produced by a difference of rapidity in what 
we call the calorific or heat vibrations. The longer and slower the 
vibrations the greater the amount of heat they bring. This accounts 
for the fact that the violet vibrations, being the shortest and most 

*The distance of the sun, as determined by the most recent calculations, is between 
92,500,000 and 93,000,000 miles, which accounts for the fact that some writers use the first- 
named, others the last-named, number when giving the sun's distance. 



The Wonders of the Sunbeam, 

rapid of the color vibrations, show the least heat, the amount in- 
creasing as the vibrations become a little larger and less rapid 
through the various colors down to red, the vibrations of which color 
are the largest and least rapid of any we can see. The unseen vibra- 
tions are still larger and slower than the red color vibrations, down 
through the different kinds of heat to that which is the most fierce. 

As light passes through glass without in any way affecting the 
glass, so heat passes through some bodies without affecting them. 
And as a flower or bit of ribbon reflects the vibrations which give to it 
its color in our eye, irreivingand absorbing all the other vibrations, 
so some bodies allow some kinds of heat vibrations to pass through 
them without either being affected, but will absorb all the vibrations 
of other kinds of heat, holding them and thereby becoming heated. 
.Then, too, the heat vibrations which come to us with the color 
vibrations, as in sunshine, can go where the other or dark heat vibra- 
tions cannot go — a matter of the utmost importance to us, and 
showing, again, the wisdom of Him who created us and all things. 
Sunshine passes unchecked through our air. carrying the heat of the 
sun to us, and giving it up to the earth as the vibrations strike against 
it, warming it and thus giving and sustaining life. The earth thus 
heated, throws off its heat again, but as dark heat. Now, if this dark 
heat could pass through our air as can the luminous heat of the 
sunshine in coming to us, it would escape at night as rapidly as it was 
received during tbe day. and our nights, even at the equator, would 
be colder than the polar regions — the earth would be unfit for our 
habitation. As it is, however, the heat which came through the air, 
in the sunshine, cannot, except to a limited extent, pass out again 
through it, so that the earth carries over with it into and through the 
night a large measure of the heat which it receives during the day, 
and life is thus sustained. Who but an all-wise Being could have so 
arranged this and the thousands of other wonderful things essential 
to our life and happiness, which appear to us as we inquire into 
nature's laws and forces ? It is the operation of this same law. too, 
that makes our houses so much more comfortable than the streets on 
such a cold day as this. If the heat from our fire could fly out 
through our windows as easily as the heat from the sun comes in, in 
the sunshine, this would be a most uncomfortable party, I assure 

— a chilliness would indeed be thrown over us, as Joe feared there 
might be the other day, you know. We should, were there no such 
provision as I have named, be compelled to board up or otherwise 
cover our windows during cold weather ; for, if left as they now are, 
4 we might as well,' as Bishop Warren puts it in his most entertaining 
book on astronomy*, — "we might as well try to heat our rooms with the 
window-panes all out, and the blast of winter sweeping through them.' 

♦Recreations in Astronomy. 



The Wonders of the Sunbeam, 71 

I must add, however, that besides the vibrations giving us light 
and heat there are in our sunshine other vibrations, called actinic 
or chemical vibrations, which are also great wonder-workers and 
without whose wonder-working presence and power our world, 
warmed and lighted as it might be by the other classes of vibrations, 
those of heat and color, would be very incomplete — indeed, a barren 
desert. Without these vibrations, the farmer, the gardener, the fruit 
grower, the florist all would toil in vain. The farmer prepares his 
ground, applying fertilizers and plowing it ; this done, he sows or 
plants his seed, and then — waits ; he can do nothing more to insure a 
harvest — he can only wait. But what he cannot do, strong man that 
he is, these vibrations, though so very, very little that scores of 
thousands of them are gathered within the length of a single inch, can 
do for him with perfect ease. The rains water his fields, and the 
sunshine falls upon them, and the warmth and moisture soon cause 
the seeds to swell and sprout, and from the death and decay of the 
old seed sown by the farmer, there springs into life a new plant — a 
marvelous thing, a change which man not only cannot bring about, 
but which he cannot even understand. And now what is going on ? 
The chemical rays or vibrations of the sun are busily at work ; they 
are taking hold of the elements, nitrogen, potash, etc., which go to make 
the growing plant, as it finds them in the soil itself, or in the fertilizers 
which the farmer has applied, selecting them and separating them 
from other elements with unerring accuracy, and in some mysterious 
way feeding it to the young plant, continuing their unseen, unheard 
but wonderful work days, weeks, months, aided by the rains and by 
the warmth of the heat vibrations, until we have ' first the blade, then 
the ear, and afterward the full corn in the ear'; and then the glad 
reapers go forth and gather in the rich harvest which these busy, 
skillful fingers of the sunshine have produced from the seed sown 
in doubt and uncertainty, perhaps, — from 'some an hundred-fold, 
some sixty-fold, some thirty-fold.' 'What hath God wrought?' we 
may well exclaim, as we contemplate not only what we may call the 
greater wonders of His universe, but the wonders which lie, often un- 
suspected, everywhere about us and which defy not only our utmost 
skill to reproduce, but even our greatest wisdom to comprehend 
them, — every-day miracles, we may well term them. 

As with our grain, so, too,- with our vegetables, our fruits and our 
flowers. These tiny, miracle-working fingers of the sunshine select 
from the soil the elements needed for the growth of each — this for a 
potato, that for a radish, another for a cabbage !— this for a peach, 
that for an apple, another for a grape or berry !— this for a violet, 
that for a daisy, another for the beautiful golden-rod !— this for a 
white rose, that for a red one, another for a yellow one !— and so on, 
with unerring skill, through all the realm of plants and fruits and 
flowers ! Think for a moment of the marvelous skill displayed in the 



72 The Wonders of the Sunbeam. 

coloring of even a single beautifully-marked pansy — to say nothing of 
the almost endless variety of these little beauties growing side by side 
and in the same soil, in a single bed. It is the chemical vibrations, 
too, which enable the photographer to accomplish his wonderful work, 
whereby, in the fraction of a second, one's face or some beautiful view 
is indelibly traced on the glass plate in the camera, and from which 
hundreds of pictures can then be printed. 

Yes, indeed, Ned, — very wonderful. And I might tell you very 
many more most curious and wonderful things in regard to light and 
heat, of what they do for us and how they do it, so far as we under- 
stand it, etc., etc., but we have not time to speak of all the particulars 
concerning these things, of which you will, I trust, seek to learn all 
that may be learned, as you become older. You will remember, too, 
that I would n't promise to answer all your questions, — and so will 
stop, right here. 

And I must close my talk about the sun, in general, too, though 
very much more might be said upon a great many, indeed upon all, 
the points I have more or less briefly mentioned; however, it is not my 
purpose to give you, for the most part, more than the prrincipal facts 
in regard to these matters, but I shall hope that what you have heard 
will lead you to read and study as much as you may be able in regard 
to not only the wonders of astronomy, but those of chemistry, natural 
philosophy, geology, etc. You will find such reading and study very 
much more valuable than the reading to which too many boys and 
girls give their time, and you will find many of the books upon the 
subjects I have mentioned highly entertaining, — at least I find them so. 

Well, the meeting is adjourned, as the big people say at the close 
of their meetings. To-morrow night we will have a little moonshine ; 
come early, as our moon will rise promptly at seven o'clock, and will 
set — well, whenever we are done with it. 

Good night, Miss Inquisitive — good night, all." 



X. 

THE MOON:— ITS APPEARANCE AND PHASES. 

"Good evening, youngsters; all here, I believe, even ahead of 
time. Well, so much the better, as we can be in readiness to begin 
our talk at the time set, instead of only beginning our preparations 
at that time. Now, the rest of you get your places, while Ned and 
myself arrange the blinds and curtains of these windows so that we 
all can look out, skyward, as we may wish to do, after awhile. That's 
good ; — now we are ready to begin, and just in time, too, as our clock 
is about to strike seven, — there it goes, now. 

I said our moon would rise at seven o'clock, by which I meant, 
as some of you may have guessed, that our moon talk would begin at 
that hour. The moon itself, however, rose at a much earlier hour, 
so that now, as we see, it is already high up in the sky ; it rose at a 
few minutes after one, this afternoon, but, on account of the greater 
brightness of the sunshine, we could not see it at that time nor for 
several hours afterward, when, as the sun and his intense brightness 
disappeared in the west, the moon was seen — already far above the 
horizon — very faint at first, but growing brighter as the twilight 
deepened, until now it is shining with a splendor of silvery brightness 
which, softly touching hilltop and valley, wood and stream, causes us 
to rapturously cry, ' Oh, what a beautiful night ! ' I may add that 
yesterday the moon rose about twelve o'clock, or a little more than 
an hour earlier than it rose to-day, while to-morrow it will rise more 
than an hour later than it did to-day, or considerably after two o'clock 
— I'll explain the matter a little later, young lady. 

The moon«is, as it always has been, a most interesting object, — 
as, too, it has been, is, and probably will long continue to be, the 
subject of numberless more or less interesting essays, lectures, talks, 
poems, stories, jokes, queer superstitions, still queerer opinions and all 
kinds of the queerest of notions. Of course, you all are acquainted, 
in a way, with that strange personage the 'Man in the Moon'— all 
boys and girls are. Some of you, perhaps, have heard or seen in 
newspapers some allusion to the old joke about the moon being made 
of green cheese ; and, possibly, h^ve, too, heard or seen something 
spoken of as ' moonshine '—which is a very common way of expressing 
our opinion that some other person's opinion or statement about 
some matter is not worth very much. There is, I may add, a very 
great deal of this kind of 'moonshine' in regard to the moon 
itself— the superstitions and queer notions to which I alluded, a 
moment ago. None, perhaps, is more time-honored and familiar than 



74 The Moon: — Its Appearance and Phases. 

the nonsense in regard to the good or bad luck which we may expect, 
according to which shoulder it may be over which we happen to first 
see a new moon. The younger people, now-a-days are disposed to 
count as 'moonshine,' and to make fun of, the beliefs or notions to 
which their fathers and grandfathers hold with unwavering faith. 
Many old farmers, especially, are learned in these matters — in moon- 
lore, as we term it — and are guided by it, almost entirely, in their 
farming operations. They firmly believe that some things, to be done 
right, must be done in the 'light of the moon,' others in the 'dark of 
the moon,' this or that thing when the moon is new, or full, or in first 
or last quarter, as the case may be, and that their labor will be lost, or 
its results be more or less disastrously unsatisfactory, if any kind of 
work is performed 'in the wrong time of the moon.' There is to them 
a right and wrong time to sow or plant, and to cut their grass and 
grain, to cut down trees for certain uses, to pick their apples, to set 
their posts in the ground, to kill their pigs — in fact, to do almost any- 
thing and everything, and they are ready to prove, by past experience, 
that their beliefs are well grounded. The changes of the weather, 
too, depend, they believe, very largely, if not entirely, upon the moon's 
changes or phases, or upon its special position when first seen, as the 
new moon, each month; but observations made for the purpose of 
testing the matter are said to disprove this belief, so that it is the 
opinion of astronomers that the moon has but little, if any, influence 
on the matter. As to its influence, so widely believed in, touching the 
other matters I have mentioned, and many more, astronomers do not 
share the beliefs so commonly held. 

That the moon has power to affect and influence the earth in cer- 
tain ways, as in causing the tides, is well known, but whether success or 
failure in such everyday matters as those I have mentioned depends 
upon the moon, is something we may well doubt. In connection with 
this subject, I may mention that it is the general belief that crazy per- 
sons are greatly affected by the moon, being much worse during the 
time when the moon appears largest and brightest — full moon, we term 
it. Indeed, it is this general belief which has given us the common 
term used in speaking of such unfortunate people — lunatics, a word 
which comes from the Latin name of the moon, luna. But here, 
again, observations made to test the matter do not, we are told, agree 
with the common opinion. I have read, too, some strange and start- 
ling accounts of the terrible results experienced by sailors who have 
slept on the decks of their vessels, and soldiers or hunters who have 
slept upon the plains, uncovered, 'in the full glare of the full moon. 
How much or how little of all these beliefs in regard to the moon's 
influence upon our affairs, great and small, is true, I do not pretend 
to say ; I simply give them to you, as matters about which you may 
often hear, as you grow older. What is true, we ought to know, with 
certainty ; what is only ' moonshine ' should be chased away with the 



• 



The Moon: — Its Appearance and Phases. 75 

sunshine of the truth, fully established. I must not forget to add, in 
leaving this matter, that it is a standing joke that lovers are particu- 
larly interested in the moon, and particularly affected by it. Whether 
this is true or not nobody knows but the lovers — and they, of course, 
won't tell. — Do I ? Now, Miss Inquisitive, how do you suppose an old 
bachelor like me could know ? 

But what is the moon about which there are so many curious 
notions ? Well, it is a world, in shape round like the earth, but much 
smaller in size, suspended in space, as are all the worlds, etc., traveling 
around the sun in company with our earth, and at the same time, too, 
circling round and round the earth, just as the earth and the other 
planets all the time circle round and round the sun. There comes into 
my mind, while thus telling you what the moon is, the funny opening 
stanza of a laughable story in rhyme, which appeared in one of our school 
books, when I was somewhat younger, and which I might have given 
you instead of the statement I did give you. — Let you have it, anyhow? 
Oh, it's hardly worth while, now; still, as it is a funny little thing in 
its way, and will afford us a pleasant and innocent little laugh, which 
is something we all need, occasionally, perhaps, I'll let you have it, 
especially as it contains, if not more, certainly as much, truth as 
poetry. There are but four lines of it, so we shall not lose much time 
with it, anyhow. The rhymester, to introduce his tale, first tells us : — 

' The moon it is a great, big world, 
And hangs up in the sky ; ' 

and having given us this piece of truthful information he naively adds: — 

* And giveth light, on moonlight nights, 
To the worlds a-passing by.' 

Ah ! I thought that would tickle you— Joe, especially, seems 
delighted ; I suspect the odd statement that the moon gives light on 
moonlight nights is what particularly pleases him. Now, you've had 
your poetry, and your laugh, — let us get to work again. 

The diameter of the moon is a little over one-fourth that of the 
earth, being about 2,160 miles. Our earth is about 50 times as large as 
the moon. The moon's average distance from us is about 238,000 miles 
—quite a long distance, of course, but a very small one as compared 
with our distance from the sun and from the other bodies of our sys- 
tem, so that we may consider our moon as quite a near neighbor. As 
the moon's path or orbit around the earth, like the orbit of the earth 
and all the other bodies, is not a perfect circle, but an ellipse, the moon 
is brought closer to us at some times than at others, just as the earth 
is sometimes closer to, sometimes farther from, the sun, as it swings 
around it. 

While all the bodies of our system belong first to the sun, yet the 
moon may be said to belong more particularly to our earth, as it is the 
great power of the earth's attraction— so great on account of its near- 
ness and much greater size— that holds the moon so close to us, and 



76 The Moon: — Its Appearance and Phases, 

compels it to circle round us, unceasingly. It thus circles or revolves 
about our earth once in about a month — from which comes the division 
of the year into months, the word month itself coming from the word 
moon. The time of a revolution of the moon does not, however, 
exactly correspond to our months, being but about 29^ days, so that 
during our year of 365X days, the moon makes nearly vz% revolutions 
around the earth ; so, if we still counted our time by moons, as some 
savages do, without taking the additional days into the account, we 
should find, pretty soon, that things did not agree, that they were very 
badly mixed up, indeed, as we would be gaining time, as it were, quite 
rapidly. 

So you thought, Bess, that the moon goes around the earth every 
day — as it was believed, a few centuries ago, that the sun thus goes 
daily around us. They certainly both appear to thus go around us, 
disappearing behind the western hills and coming up again from be- 
hind the eastern ones ; but we have learned that it is the turning of the 
earth itself entirely round each day that makes it appear that the sun 
and moon revolve around us. The moon does go around the earth, 
it is true, but only once in nearly a month, as we have just learned, 
instead of every day. 

Ah, yes, Miss Inquisitive, you've asked the question I was expect- 
ing, in some form, from you or from some one of the others. What 
becomes of the moon during a part of each month is a puzzling matter 
to very many older heads than yours, although the explanation of its 
apparent disappearance is very simple. The truth is, the moon does 
not leave us, at all, as it appears to do, but remains in our company, 
following its regular monthly path around us, whether we see it or not. 
The reason it thus regularly appears and disappears, growing larger, 
as it seems, each night that it is seen, is owing to the fact 
that it is not a self-luminous body, like the sun — that is, it'does not pro- 
duce its own light as does the sun — but depends for its light and heat, 
as do all the other bodies of our system, upon the sun. If it were like 
the sun we would see it during a part of every twenty-four hours, as 
we do the sun. But the brightness of the moon — the moonshine which 
we receive from it — is really the sunshine which falls upon the moon, 
reflected or thrown off again from the moon and coming then to us — 
sunshine at second hand as it were, as is, too, the light we receive from 
Venus, Jupiter, and all the planets of our system. 

As the moon swings around us, in its monthly journey, it will, of 
course, be sometimes in the same direction from us as is the sun, and 
at other times on exactly the other side of the earth from the sun, and 
at yet other times at different positions between these points. As 
moonlight is, after all, simply sunlight reflected to us from the surface 
of the moon, we can get moonlight only from the part of the moon on 
which the sun is shining — that you can clearly see; you can see, too, that 
we can get moonlight from only as much of even the side of the moon 



The Moon :—Its Appearance and Phases. 77 

on which the sun is shining as happens to be turned toward or facing 
our earth, which is the reason, as I will explain in a moment, why we 
see more of the moon at some times than at others, while at other times 
we do not see it at all. The whole of the side of the moon facing the sun, 
or one-half of the whole globe of the moon, is all the time illuminated 
by the sun, just as is one-half of our earth, as it turns round and round 
on its axis; but, owing to the different positions occupied by the moon as 
it circles around us, it is only once a month that we are able to see the 
whole of the bright side of the moon, the side upon which the sun is 
shining, while at other times we can see only a part of this illuminated 
side, or, again, are unable to see any of it. I'll illustrate this, calling 
our lamp the sun, and using Bess' head for a moon — she'll make quite 
a handsome one, too. — Come, Joe, no more of that ; you mustn't make 
jokes about our new moon. 

Stand just here, Bess, between us and the lamp, and facing it — 
I'll pull it up a little, so as to bring it a little above your head, so. 
Now, we have it, only we are to remember that the sun is ever and 
ever so many times larger than the moon. When you move, Bess, as 
I shall direct, you are to keep your face always toward the lamp. 
Now, one-half of Bess' head — her face, as she is placed — is illuminated 
by the light of the lamp, just as half of the real moon is lighted by the 
real sun. But as the bright half — her face — is turned away from us as 
it faces the sun (the dark or night half — the back of her head — being 
turned toward us) we cannot see our moon at all. We can, to be sure, 
see the back of Bess' head, in our illustration here in our little room, 
but in the case of the real sun and moon, the very great brightness of 
the sunshine streaming past it to us, as the lamplight comes to us over 
her head, so fills all space and our eyes as to prevent us from seeing 
the dark side of the little round moon passing a little below it, as in 
our illustration, or a little above it, as is often the case. So, we cannot 
see the moon at all at such a time, which is called the time of new 
moon. As the moon is constantly moving on along its path — just as I 
jam having Bess to slowly move now, still facing the lamp — it passes 
Bit from the position it occupies at new moon, getting farther to 
Wie side of the sun all the time, but still covered up as it were by his 
brightness, and thus hidden from us for two or three days, being then 
first seen by us in the west, just after sunset, as a narrow little 
crescent-shaped strip of silvery light, — a discovery which boys and 
girls usually announce by shouting — ' Oh, / see the new moon ! ' Bess, 
now, is about in the position as regards the lamp that the moon is in 
as regards the sun, at the time we first see the silvery crescent — we 
can, you notice, see just a little strip of her face, as illuminated by the 
lamplight, or sunlight, as we are to suppose. As she moves on around 
in the circle, we can, you see, catch a little more of her bright face 
every moment, just as we see more of the bright side of the moon, 
night after night, as it moves around us in its monthly path— her 



78 The Moon: — Its Appearance and Phases, 

position just now, by the way, being about exactly that of the real moon, 
as we see it through the window there. In about a week from new 
moon it has moved to a point corresponding with Bess' present posi- 
tion, one-fourth of the way around, in which position we can see just 
one-half of the sunshiny side, just as we can now see one-half of Bess' 
lamp-lighted face. As this half of the bright side which we see is, of 
course, one-fourth or one-quarter of the whole moon, the moon is said 
to have now reached first quarter. 

The moon still moving on — we shall have to turn round a little to 
watch our moon now — still moving on around its nearly circular path, 
we are enabled to see more and more of its bright face, every night (as we 
see more of Bess' bright face every moment), now the side that was first 
hollow, and afterward, as at first quarter, straight, now bulging out, 
as it ' ere. This shape of the moon is called gibbous — a term which 
means more than a quarter but less than a half circle — as we can see 
more than a quarter of the moon, but not the full half, or the whole of 
its bright side. A little later, or in a little more than two weeks from 
the time of new moon, the moon has reached the point corresponding 
to the position Bess now occupies — it has passed half way around its 
orbit and is exactly opposite the starting point of new moon, though, 
as we see, it is now on the other side of the earth from the sun, which 
it exactly faces again, as at the new moon point, the sun shining past 
our earth upon it. Looking from the earth now, as we are looking at 
Bess, we can see the whole of the bright half of the moon, just as we 
can see the whole of the bright half of Bess' head — her full, bright 
face — and we say now that the moon is full. 

Still moving on — for it never stops — the moon gets off to one side 
again, as it were, and now we see less and less of its bright side, it 
growing smaller exactly at the same rate at which it before grew larger 
— showing, of course, as much of the bright part at any point on this 
side of its course, as it did at the corresponding point on the other side, 
as it left the sun, but now turned in the opposite direction. When it 
has reached the position Bess now occupies, we can see but half the 
bright side, again, or one-fourth of the whole moon, and the moon is said 
to have now reached its third or last quarter. From this point, which 
is, of course, exactly opposite the first quarter point, the moon moves 
on in between us and the sun, showing less and less of its bright side, 
as we see less of Bess' face, until only the narrow crescent is left; then 
this, too, disappears, as the moon is again hidden by the sun's bright- 
ness, and two or three days later the moon is back, as is Bess, at the 
starting point, and we have new moon, again, — and as one moon is 
enough for ordinary occasions, Bess is excused from further service, 
with our thanks, of course, for her very excellent personation of 'Fair 
Luna,' as the poets call her. 

I will make a picture showing these changes of the moon, or its 
phases, as they are called. Here is the earth following its path around 



The Moon : — Its Appearance and Phases, 79 

the sun — which we will indicate by this dotted line; this other dotted 
line I am making around the earth— so — represents the moon's path — 
and, now, we are ready to place the moon at various points so as to 
show its phases, beginning wih new moon. 

New moon, you know, is when the Xnoon comes between us and the 
sun — as it did very early last Sunday morning — passing along either 
a little higher or lower than the sun except at the time of an eclipse, 
when it comes fairly between us and the sun, as I will soon explain. 
We will show the new moon, then, up here, supposing the sun to be 



New ^^ Moon 




Crescent 



P ^ 



Crescent 



v / 



\ 



\ Last 



Quarter; 







, Quarter 

\ 

/ 

/ 



\ 



/ 

Gibbous " 



R 

-o -"' 

ull\^yMoon 



Fuir 

MOON'S PHASES. 

shining from above. Looking from the earth we have this dark side 
turned toward us, as you notice — though we cannot see it as we can 
in my picture, on account of the sun's great brightness, as already 
told you. But two or three days later, the moon moving on in this di- 
rection — toward the left, as does the earth — we see the young moon 
as a little silvery crescent after sunset, — as some of you may have seen 
it, two or three evenings ago; this will be at about this point in our 
picture, where I will now put it. Of course the sun is still shining, and 
always shines, on the whole of one side of the moon — as the lamp did 
on Bess' whole face — but we can see only the part, much or little, which 



80 The Moon : — Its Appearance and Phases. 

faces toward us as the moon goes around us. More of it shows, of 
course, each day, as you have often noticed, perhaps, until in a little 
more than a week, when it is one-fourth of the way around, we see half 
of the bright side, or one-fourth of the whole moon, as I before ex- 
plained, and the moon is at first quarter, as we will represent it, just 
here — the point which, I may state, that real, bright moon, out yonder 
will reach a little after midnight of to-morrow night. When at the 
point of first or last quarter the moon is said to be in quadrature; 
when at new moon, I should add, it is said to be in conjunction with the 
sun, and when at full moon to be in opposition to the sun. 

If you will watch the moon, now, night after night, you will notice 
it rising later, and later, taking on the gibbous or bulged shape — as I 
will show, here — until, having reached this point, just half way around 
from new moon, its full, bright side fairly faces both the sun and our 
earth, and we see the full moon — here. It will by this time be rising 
so late at night that boys and girls of your size will hardly have a 
chance to watch it any longer unless, waking up between midnight and 
morning, you should go to your window for a sight of it. Should you 
do so, you would find less and less of the bright side could be seen each 
night, being turned further away from the earth, as it keeps on its 
course, until having passed into the gibbous shape again, and through 
it, it would at this point, the last quarter, show but one-half the bright 
side, again, — so. However, it would now be rising but a little before 
sunrise, and you might be unable to see it, while beyond this point, ris- 
ing still longer after sunrise each day, you could not see it at all. 
Could you still watch it, however, you would see it take the crescent 
shape again, as here, in our picture, and rapidly become smaller until, 
coming in between us and the sun again, it would be lost in his bright- 
ness, and, about 29^ days after it left the new moon point, it would be 
back there again — only to keep right on, again, going through the same 
changes of appearance, month after month, year after year, as it has 
been doing — well, we cannot even guess how long. 

The moon, as I have said, is about 29 >£ days in going from new 
moon to new moon; it makes the circuit of the earth, however, in only 
about 27M days, but as the earth has been at the same time rapidly 
moving on in its own orbit, the moon must travel an additional two days 
and more, in order to catch up and come again fairly into the new-moon 
position. 

It is the movement of the moon around the earth which causes it 
to rise later each night — or day, when it rises at such time. It was 
this matter Miss Inquisitive asked, awhile ago, to have explained. 
Well, if the moon did not move around the earth, but kept the same 
position, always, it would rise at the same time all the year round. 
As it is the turning of the earth on its axis once every twenty-four hours 
that gives us day and night, so it is this same turning of the earth which 
causes the moon to appear, or rise, as we are turned round far enough 



The Moon : — Its Appearance and Phases, 81 

to see it, and later, causes it to disappear, or set, as we are turned still 
further around until we can no longer see it. If the moon stood still, 
as regards the earth, we would, in turning round every day on our axis, 
come into sight of the moon, or have moonrise, at the same time every 
day. As it is, the moon has moved on during each day a considerable 
distance in its course, so that we do not find it one day where we found 
it the day before, and must keep turning on round until we catch up 
with it, again. It requires, on the average, about 50 minutes each day, 
for us to move the extra distance necessary to enable us to catch up — 
in other words, the moon rises on the average, about 50 minutes later 
each day. This difference varies, however, on account of the varying 
inclination of the earth's orbit to our horizon at different times in the 
year, the difference in time of moonrise being sometimes as little as 
17 minutes, and at other times as much as over 76 minutes. Just at 
this time, by the way, the difference is great, being about 70 minutes, 
or 1 hour and 10 minutes. 

Now, I trust, you understand these changes of the moon and know 
what has become of the moon when we do not see it — no doubt, a puz- 
zling matter to very many. You know, now, that the moon is always 
in her proper place, whether we see her or not. When so situated 
that she brightens our night, we have the best of evidence that she is 
with us, but she is none the less with us during what we call the ' dark 
of the moon,' though so situated that we may not see her. We can, 
however, as some of you may have noticed, even during this period 
occasionally see the moon showing faintly in the daytime, sometimes 
late in the forenoon or quite early in the afternoon, the sun's bright- 
ness not altogether hiding it at these times. 

Possibly, it was ignorance of the fact that the moon is always in 
its place, whether we see it or not, and looks down upon our part of 
the earth, as upon other parts of it, during several hours of each day 
or night, the year around, that was at the foundation of much of the 
' moonshine ' of which I spoke a few minutes ago — the old superstitious 
and ridiculous notions. No doubt the changes of the moon — its 
appearance, as a new moon, its rapid increase and decrease — its ' wax- 
ing and waning,' as it is termed — and then its utter disappearance for a 
time was a puzzling matter, and is so yet, of course, to people not aware 
of the cause of all these changes ; possibly, many may have enter- 
tained the idea, as some may, even to-day, that the new moon was an 
actual new moon each month, beginning as a narrow crescent strip 
and actually growing larger up to full moon, and then wasting away 
day by day, until it was all gone. But however this may be, the mat- 
ter of the moon's changes, puzzling and mysterious as it was to those 
not aware of the cause of these changes, would furnish ground for all 
kinds of notions touching the effect of these changes upon our com- 
monest earthly affairs. Since, though, the moon itself is always pres- 
ent and never changes, the changes we see being only the difference 



82 The Moon : — Its Appearance and Phases, 

in the amount of its sunlighted surface which we are able to see at 
different times, it would seem that whatever effect, if any, the moon's 
changes could have would be due, not to the difference in the amount 
of light we receive from it at the different times, as this light, as you 
have learned, is simply the sunlight falling on the moon and reflected 
or thrown off again to us, but due, rather, to the varying direction of 
the moon's attraction as related to the attraction of the sun — the 
moon's attraction being in the same direction as that of the sun at 
new moon, in exactly the opposite direction at full moon, and more or 
less opposed to it at all other points in its monthly course, including 
the first and last quarters, or quadratures, where it is at a right angle 
to it. 

It will surprise you, I am pretty sure, to be told that our earth plays 
the part of a moon to our moon, going through exactly the same changes, 
as it would be seen from the moon, that we here on the earth see tak- 
ing place on the moon, with this difference, that at any time the ap- 
pearance of one is exactly the opposite of that of the other. For 
instance, we see the moon to-night at nearly the first quarter point, 
but if we were on the moon we should see our earth at nearly last 
quarter. At the time of new moon, when the bright side of the moon 
is turned away from us and the dark side toward us so we cannot see 
it at all, the sunlighted or day side of the earth, as you can under- 
stand, will be turned fairly and fully toward the moon, and if then on 
the moon we should see a ' full earth,' — looking in general like our full 
moon, only being, of course, very much larger. So, when the moon 
has passed half way around us in her monthly journey and presents 
her whole sunlighted side to us as the full moon, our earth, you can 
again see, has its dark or night side turned to the moon, and to the 
moon there is a ' new earth,' and so on. 

Yes, Bess, our earth shines just as the moon shines, by reflecting 
or throwing off again into space the light received from the sun. To 
us here upon it, the earth is only a great dark-colored globe, but viewed 
from the moon or from any of the planets we should see it shining just 
as these other bodies shine to us. The planets, as I think I told you the 
other night, are of themselves dark, like our own earth, and the light 
they show us as we see them at night is, like moonlight, the light of 
the sun reflected from them to us. The reason they appear only like 
stars, while the moon, which is so very, very much smaller than they 
are, appears so much larger, is all owing to the great difference be- 
tween the distance from us of the moon, which is quite a near neigh- 
bor, as I have said, and of the planets which are so many millions of 
miles away. Viewed through the astronomers' great telescopes, how- 
ever, these far-away planets are apparently brought so close that they 
do not appear as mere bright points like stars, but as round bright disks 
like the moon. Yes, our dull looking earth shines brightly by throwing 
back into space the sunshine it receives, and, if there are dwellers on 



The Moon : — Its Appearance and Phases. 83 

the other planets, they see our earth — as we on the earth see them — 
shining, star-like, in the sky, surrounded by other stars. 

Please move your head slightly, Ned, so I can get a good look at 
the moon — maybe I can give you a striking proof that the earth shines. 
Ah ! I thought so — there's the proof staring you in the face. Just take 
a good look at the moon, and then tell me if you can see anything be- 
sides the bright crescent shaped part. Yes, that's what I mean, Ned — 
that large, round, dim thing, as you term it, filling up the hollow of the 
bright crescent and extending out beyond its points; I'm glad you all 
see it — though no doubt all of you have seen it before. Well, that is 
the other part of the side of the moon now turned toward us, but on 
which the sun is not shining — the remainder of the sunlighted side 
being turned away from us. As the sun is not shining upon the part 
which we can faintly see, how is it that this part is shining, at all ? — 
shining enough for us to see it ? Well, I'll explain the matter : The 
dim light with which this part of the moon is shining is received from 
our earth, being nothing less, indeed,- than the very same moonlight 
which we are ourselves receiving from the bright part of the moon — 
which, in turn, is the sunlight which is now falling upon it while we 
have our backs to the sun, as we may say. Let us trace this light : 
First, it comes from the sun, of course; falling upon the moon, it is 
then reflected from it, into space, our earth receiving a part of it; then 
our earth itself reflects it into space, and the moon receives a part of it 
back again; then the moon again reflects it, and it is the light of this 
last reflection which we see coming from the dim part of the moon; so, 
you see, our earth shines, and it is its shining, or reflecting of the moon- 
light we are receiving, which is now dimly lighting up what would, other- 
wise, be at this time a dark part of the moon. If, then, our earth shines 
to this degree in the moonlight, you can well understand that it must 
shine very brightly indeed, as it reflects the direct and intense light of 
the sun to other worlds. Who knows but our earth is the brightest and 
most beautiful of the planets, outrivaling, as viewed from some other 
planet, even beautiful Venus herself ! 

I have not yet told you what the moon is like, further than to speak 
of its shape and size. Supposing, then, that we should take a part of 
our wonderful imaginary railroad trip over again, the eight months part 
of it, what would we find when we should reach the moon ? Well, ac- 
cording to the best information the astronomers are able to give us, we 
should find a world very different from the one in which we are living. 
By the use of their great telescopes, the astronomers are able to appar- 
ently bring the moon close enough to appear as it would to our eyes at 
a distance of 125 or 150 miles from us— a distance small enough to en- 
able them to determine some things in regard to it, but still too great 
to enable them to settle a number of very important points about which 
we would all like to have information; at the distance named, only the 
very largest objects oan be seen, as you can well understand when you 
consider that we cannot see a man five miles off. 



84 The Moon : — Its Appearance and Phases. 

The astronomers tell us that the moon's surface presents a scene 
of great desolation. Great volcanoes have at some long-ago time been 
in eruption upon it, though not now, and everywhere are found the 
craters of these now extinct volcanoes. They form immense basins, 
as it were, or sunken plains, some of them 100 miles in diameter and very 
deep — some of the smaller ones being three or four miles deep, and the 
sides or walls of the old crater rising nearly straight to this height. In 
the center of these basins a conical peak rises, while masses of rock, 
in huge blocks, lie scattered about in them. Great mountain peaks 
also appear among them, many very lofty ones — some of them, indeed, 
exceeding in height the loftiest ones on our earth. There are, too, 
plains — or what appear to be such — like our prairies. There are other 
appearances, too, the nature of which is not understood. As judged 
by the appearance of the side we see, the moon is believed by the 
astronomers to be a dead world. 

Many photographs of the moon, as apparently brought near us, 
have been taken by the astronomers, so that by examining these pict- 
ures we can see the moon very much as it appears to the astronomers 
themselves while viewing it through their telescopes. Fortunately, I 
happen to have, and so am able to show you, an engraving made from 
such a photograph — here it is. The photograph from which this was 
engraved is said to be the best ever taken. It was taken at the great 
Lick Observatory, at San Francisco, It shows the moon, as you 
notice, as it appears at first quarter— being a little larger than it ap- 
pears to us in the sky, this evening, as the first quarter point for this 
month will not be reached, as I have already told you, until after mid- 
night of to-morrow. Here you see the craters, looking right down into 
those that face fairly toward us, as do these here near the straight edge. 
Down at the bottom of some of those into which the sun is shining 
you can see the round, tapering peaks of which I told you. The black 
spot on the side and bottom of some of the craters is the shadow cast 
by the high, steep walls or sides, which shut out the sunlight from the 
depths of some of them, almost entirely. 

The other half of the side of the moon facing us would be just here 
at the left, but is not to be seen because the sun is not shining upon it; 
it is in the dark, but is, of course, there just the same, and would appear 
had the picture been taken at the time of full moon, when the sun would 
have been shining on the whole side of the moon facing us. As it is, 
the sunshine extended at the time the picture was taken, over only as 
much of this side of the moon as we see in the picture. The edge of 
the bright part appears broken and ragged, you notice; the dark patches 
which give the edge this irregular shape are the shadows of great 
mountains which catch the sunlight, and so prevent it, for the time, 
from falling upon and lighting up the valleys or plains beyond them. 
As we view the moon with our unaided eyes, as we see it, now, through 
the window, we cannot, on account of its distance, notice these shad- 
ows, the edge appearing to be straight. 




PHOTOGRAPH OF MOON AT FIRST QUARTER. 

Taken at Lick Observatory, San Francisco, showing moon as it would appear to 
the naked eye at a distance of about 150 miles. 



(85) 



S6 The Moon : — Its Appearance and Phases. 

I should add, here, that we always see the same side of the moon, 
the same side being always turned toward us. This is due to the fact 
that the moon does not turn on its axis once in 24 hours, or some 
such short period, as does the earth, but just once during the time in 
which it revolves around the earth — nearly a month, you know. This 
causes the same side to be always turned toward us, whereas, if it turned 
on its axis in either a shorter or longer period, we would be able to see the 
whole of it in the course of its revolutions around us. As it is, we never 
have seen and never can see the other side of the moon, and what it is 
like, or what may be there are matters about which we can never know 
anything, whatever. We do, however, see a little more than half of 
the moon, as, owing to two or three causes, we are able to see at one 
time a little beyond the usual limit on one side, and at another time 
about the same distance beyond the usual limit on the other side; so 
that if we were to consider the moon as divided into 1,000 parts, we 
can see, altogether, about 576 of these parts. Here is a picture made 
to represent such a scene as it is supposed would be found could we 
visit the moon. 

What is on the other side is a mystery. The astronomers tell us 
that they cannot discover anything like air or water on this side of the 
moon; neither do they think it likely that there is any kind of life on 
this side, though of this they cannot be certain; however, people, ani- 
mals or plants, if there are any on this side, must be very different 
from those of our earth in many respects, to enable them to live with- 
out air and water, if, as it appears, neither of these is to be found. 
But as to the other side it may be different. It is heavier than this 
side, the astronomers have discovered, and all the air and water which 
the moon may have, if it has either, at all, is on that account collected 
on the other side. If they are there — something which we will prob- 
ably never know — that side of the moon may be inhabited like our 
earth, and, like it, rilled with life in many forms. But as to this we, of 
course, really know nothing at all. 

The question of whether or not the moon is inhabited, has long 
been a most interesting one, and more than one wonderful story has 
been set afloat to the effect that it has been discovered that it is in- 
habited. I recollect one which was printed in the newspapers far and 
wide a few years ago. It was to the effect that a boy of about Ned's 
age, living in California, was gifted with a remarkable pair of eyes, 
with which he could plainly see people on the moon, their houses, etc., 
all of which he described very minutely. Though nothing but a great 
hoax, the story was no doubt believed by many who read it. 

Can't we make telescopes which will enable us to see people on 
the moon, if there are any there? is a question, Miss Inquisitive, 
which astronomers and telescope makers would be glad to answer — 
yes, but it is one to which, for the present, at least, they are compelled 
to answer — no. It is a most difficult piece of work to manufacture the 




(87) 



Qs Eclipses. 

great curved pieces of glass called the lenses, used in telescopes, so as 
to have them free from any imperfections, a very slight one of which 
would make them unreliable and unfit for use; but even with every 
lens in the telescope perfect, and all combined, of great power, we 
should still fail of accomplishing the object sought. Astronomers 
find that the currents of the air greatly affect their ability to see the 
moon and other bodies far out in space through a telescope. Beyond 
a certain point an increase in the power of a telescope to magnify or 
enlarge distant objects is useless — indeed, worse than useless, as be- 
yond that point an increased power instead of making objects more 
distinct, only blurs them and blots them from the sight entirely. For 
this reason, then, we are unable to use our great telescopes, as other- 
wise we might, so as to see the smallest objects on the moon, the 
smallest now seen being those' not less than 300 to 600 feet in length 
or diameter; you can see, then, how impossible it is for us to see ob- 
jects so small as a man. Our telescopes no doubt would do their part 
of the work, but until the interference of the air is overcome, which 
may never be, they will be unable to aid us beyond the present limit. 
In connection with this question of whether or not the moon is 
inhabited, I have seen it stated, recently, that the King of Wurtem- 
berg is about to try a new method of discovery. He will have taken 
a number of the best photographs of the moon it is possible to secure, 
and will then have these photographs enlarged 100,000 times, which 
operation will, it is hoped, be so successful that the smallest objects 
on the moon will be made plainly apparent, and all questions be thus 
finally answered." 



XI. 

ECLIPSES. 

••And, now, we will take up a matter of which I spoke last night and 
of which I promised to tell you more to-night, a matter in which the 
moon plays a most important part— eclipses. 

An eclipse may be denned as the hiding, or covering over, of any 
body by the coming between us and it of some other body. An eclipse 
of the sun, as I briefly stated, last night, is caused by the moon coming, 
in the course of its monthly journey, exactly between us and the sun, 
while an eclipse of the moon— for the moon itself is also often eclipsed— is 
caused bv the earth coming exactly between the sun and the moon. 
I will try to explain to you the matters of eclipses of both sun and moon, 
so vou will be able to understand them. 

D have already seen how the moon in the course of its monthly 
journey comes in between the sun and earth, at the time of new moon, 



Eclipses, 89 

though usually passing a little higher or a little lower than the sun, and 
not exactly between it and the earth; but occasionally — not less than 
two, or more than five, times a year — it does thus come directly in 
front of the sun, and we have then an eclipse of the sun. If the path 
of the moon around the earth lay in the same plane — or, as I may 
put it for you, if it agreed exactly in direction with the path of the 
earth around the sun, the moon would then come thus directly be- 
tween us and the sun each time it circles around us, and we should have 
an eclipse every time we have new moon, about once a month, you see. 
But the all-wise Creator in appointing the moon its path caused it to 
be slightly inclined or ' tipped ' to the earth's path, so that it is partly 
above and partly below the path of the earth, and it is owing to this 
fact that the moon passes the sun, usually either a little higher or lower 
than it is, and thus avoids eclipsing it every time it goes around the 
earth. The moon's path lying thus partly above and partly below the 
earth's path, the moon in following it round and round, monthly, will cross 
the earth's path twice — once in going below, and once in coming again 
above, the earth's path. These crossing points are called nodes, the one 
where the moon crosses our path in passing below it being called the 
descending node, and the other, where it crosses again in passing 
above it, the ascending node. It is only when the moon is just at or 
very near one of these crossing points or nodes, at the time it comes in 
between us and the sun, at new moon, that it comes directly between 
us and the sun, instead of passing above or below it, as it usually does. 

As the moon thus comes fairly in front of the sun, with its dark 
side, of course, toward us, its round dark body is seen moving across 
the sun's face, sometimes covering up the whole sun in the course of 
its passage — in which case the eclipse is called a total one — or perhaps 
covering only a larger or smaller portion of the sun — in which case 
it is called a partial eclipse. As the moon moves from west to east, it 
is first seen on the western edge, or limb, as it is called, of the sun, and 
covering more and more of the sun as it moves forward, until it reaches 
the eastern edge and begins to pass off — the western side of the sun re- 
appearing as the moon passes on eastward, until, the moon having 
entirely passed by, we see the whole sun, again, as before. 

As the moon is so much smaller than the earth, and is at such a 
distance from it, it cannot thus hide the sun from the whole side of the 
earth, but only from a part of it, the sun shining past it upon all the 
other parts, as before— there being no eclipse in these parts. Just the 
belt or strip of the earth on which the shadow cast by the moon falls 
sees the eclipse, while to those places outside of this strip nothing un- 
usual occurs, the moon, to these places, passing, as usual, either above 
or below the sun. The strip of the earth's surface from which the sun- 
light is entirely cut off by the moon is quite narrow, averaging only 
about 140 miles, but being sometimes wider, sometimes narrower, than 
this, according as the moon happens to be at its least or greatest 



go 



Eclipses, 



distance from the earth at the time of the eclipse. But though it is thus 
narrow, it is in a sense quite long — thousands of miles, indeed — as the 
turning of the earth on its axis is every instant bringing a new part of 
its surface into the shadow, while, of course, carrying a corresponding 
part out again on the farther side. But outside of the strip of deepest 
shadow, where the eclipse is total, the sun being entirely covered, there 
is, on each side, a wider strip in which the shadow is less deep, only a 
part of the sun being covered — the eclipse in these strips being only 
partial. Beyond these strips of lighter shadow the sun is shining as 
usual, the moon, as I have said, being too small to cut off the light 
from these other parts. 





AN ECLIPSE OF THE SUN. 

To persons at B, the eclipse will be total, the sun being- entirely hidden by the 
moon ; to persons at A, there will be a partial eclipse, the lower part of sun being 
hidden, and to persons at C, a partial eclipse, the upper part of sun being hidden. 



Here — I will draw a picture, representing an eclipse. Here is the 
sun, here the earth, and here between the two is the moon. The sun 
being larger than the moon, it will cause the round shadow thrown by 
the moon in coming between it and the earth to run to a point toward 
the earth — thus. When the moon is farthest from the earth, the 
shadow may thus come to a point before reaching the earth, but when 
nearer, the shadow reaches the earth as I have shown, the width of 
the shadow when it reaches the earth depending, as I stated a moment 
ago, upon the distance of the moon at the time. Now, as the earth 
turns on its axis and the moon, too, moves forward, a long strip of the 
earth's surface, as I have already said, is brought into this shadow, 
and has a total eclipse. Above and below this dark shadow is the 
lighter shadow — so — covering the part of the earth from which only a 



Eclipses, 



9* 



part of the sun is hidden, or, in other words, in which there is a par- 
tial eclipse. There was, as I told you last night, a total eclipse of the 
sun on last Sunday, but the moon's position was such that its shadow 




Moon hiding lower limb of sun. Moon hiding upper limb of sun. 

PARTIAL ECLIPSES. 

did not reach to us. This strip or deep dark part of the shadow ex- 
tended from South America across the ocean to Africa, and if we had 
been within this strip, whether on the land or on a vessel on the ocean, 




PATH OF TOTAL ECLIPSE OF DECEMBER 22, 1889. 

the sun would have been entirely hidden from us by the moon; while 
if we had been within the reach of the lighter part of the shadow, 
north or south of the very dark strip, we should have seen the moon 



92 



Eclipses. 



pass over a part of the sun — the lower part if we had been north of 
the darkest strip, the upper part if we had been south of it ; as it was, 
being entirely out of reach of the moon's shadow, we saw no eclipse — 
there was nothing of an unusual nature. This picture I am drawing 
will show the course of the total eclipse of last Sunday, as represented 
by this black strip. 

Although the moon, in the case of a total eclipse, may be several 
hours in passing across the sun, the time during which it actually 
entirely covers it in its passage, viewed from any one point, is very 
short, only three or four minutes, as the moon is traveling at more than 
a 38-mile a minute rate. It is during this brief space — the time of 
totality, as it is termed — that the mysterious and magnificent appear- 
ance of which I spoke last night, the sun's corona, is to be seen. 

Although, on account of distance, the moon seems to move slowly 
across the sun, it is traveling, as I have just stated, with great speed 




3, Passing off. 2. Total. 

TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN. 



1. Beginning, 



— as would be readily apparent could we watch, from some elevated 
position, the moon's shadow on the earth sweeping along, as a great 
black spot, across mountains, valleys, rivers, or the great ocean. As- 
tronomers and others who have, from some mountain top, been able 
to see 50 or ioo miles or more of its course, describe its approach as a 
most impressive sight — to some of them even a terrifying one — as it 
comes swiftly sweeping toward them or past them like some great black 
monster racing across the land, climbing mountains and leaping rivers 
as they come in its course. 

The circumstances attending an eclipse are, of course, peculiar- 
it is the darkness of early night coming upon us perhaps at midday. 
We first see the round edge of the moon on the western edge of the 
sun, and see it minute after minute creeping further across, hiding 
more and more of the bright sun, until a strange and ghastly twilight, as 
it were, comes upon us, causing flowers to close, while birds and ani- 
mals, mistaking it for nightfall, seek their places of nightly rest. As 



Eclipses. 93 

the moon advances farther, the darkness increases until the stars ap- 
pear and the air becomes chill and damp as at night. Finally, the 
whole sun is hidden behind the moon— and now, for a little time, the 
sun's corona may be seen streaming off into space. The moon moving 
steadily on, begins to uncover the part of the sun first hidden, more 
and more of the sun coming again into view, at the same rate at which 
it disappeared, and the light increasing again until, the moon now well 
past, the flowers open again, the birds begin tossing and the chickens 
to crow, as though for the dawning of another day,— and we may fancy 
their astonishment at the shortness of the night ! If the grass is ex- 
amined, dew may be found upon it, as in the morning, the temperature 
of the air having been lowered so much during the time the sunshine 
has been cut off. Very likely you will at some time witness such an 
eclipse, as I have been permitted to do. 

When an eclipse occurs at the time of the moon's greatest distance 




AN ANNULAR ECLIPSE, 

from the earth, the whole face of the sun is not hidden by it, but a 
ring of the bright sun is left uncovered all around the moon's dark 
body, part of this ring sometimes appearing to be separated into a 
number of parts, looking like a string of beads, being called Bailey's 
Beads, in honor of their discoverer. Such an eclipse — which of course 
is nearly a total one— is called an annular one — not annual, mind — the 
word annular meaning ring-like, this name being given it on account 
of the ring of the sun appearing around the moon. 

But the moon itself is often eclipsed, as I have already told you. 
An eclipse of the moon is caused by the earth cutting off the moon's 
sunshine, just as we have seen the moon cut off the earth's sun- 
shine. It always occurs, of course, at the time of full moon, when the 
earth is between the sun and moon — not directly between them, usually, 
as you know, but only occasionally, at which times we have the eclipse. 
If the paths of the earth and the moon agreed, as before explained, we 
would have an eclipse of the moon at every time of full moon, as we 



94 



Eclipses. 



would have an eclipse of the sun at every new moon. But for the same 
reason that the moon can come directly between us and the sun only 
occasionally, the earth is brought, in the course of the moon's jour- 
neys around it, fairly between it and the sun only occasionally. Of 
course, we see an eclipse of the moon at night, and the eclipse may be 
total or partial according as the moon's position brings it fully into the 
shadow cast by the earth into space, or brings only a part of it into 
the shadow. Here — I wdll make another picture to show you an eclipse 
of the moon. Here is the sun, here the earth, this dark part is the 
shadow thrown by the earth into space, and here, next, is the moon's 
path around the sun. Now, when the moon in journeying around the 
earth gets into a position which places it directly behind the earth 
from the sun there falls upon it, not the sunshine, but the dark shadow 





ECLIPSE OF THE MOON. 



of our earth — which we see creeping across it, as we see the moon 
itself creeping across the sun, at the time of a sun eclipse. 

There will be three eclipses in the coming year, 1890, — two of the 
sun and one of the moon; none of them, however, can be seen in our 
country— so you will have to wait awhile to see one. Asia, Africa and 
Australia are the countries from which these eclipses are to be seen, 
I may state. There will, also, be what is termed a lunar appulse. 

I must say a few words about the tides before we close our talk on 
the moon. Probably all of you have read or heard of the tides, and 
those of you who have visited the sea-shore have seen them, but per- 
haps none of you know anything about their cause. Twice a day, or 
every twelve hours— really a little more than this, as it occurs a little 
later each day— the waters of the ocean rise and fall. For about six 
hours the waves roll in, and the water rises along the coast, and up in 
the bays and rivers for a long distance from the coast, to a height of 
several feet, and then ebbs or falls again, for about the same length of 
time; then it again rises for another six hours, to be followed again by 



Eclipses. 95 

another similar period of ebbing — and this rising and falling goes on 
continually. The cause of this ceaseless movement which we call the 
tides is, mainly, the attraction of the moon, the sun, however, having 
something to do with the matter by his attraction, so that we have a 
moon tide and a solar tide, though the moon tide is the principal one. 

The moon's attraction, which, on account of its comparative near- 
ness to the earth, is very great, causes the water on the side of the 
earth facing it, as the earth revolves, to be lifted or heaped up toward 
it in a wave which follows the moon in its course; at the same time, the 
earth is being drawn toward the moon, and, in a measure, drawn away 
from the water on the opposite side, which is thus left heaped up. The 
sun's influence upon the water, I shall state, is not equal to quite half 
that of the moon. When the sun and moon act together, as at new 
moon or full moon, the highest tide, called spring tide is produced; 
when the moon is at first or third quarter, they are pulling against each 
other, as it were, and we have the lowest or neap tide — the moon, at all 
times, producing the 'principal effects in the matter of the tides. 

Now, I have given you, in a general way, the principal facts in 
connection with the subject of the moon, and I will — Oh, dear me I 
yes; I did nearly forget that poor fellow, though it is evident, Miss 
Inquisitive, you had no intention of allowing him to be forgotten. As 
to this 'Man in the Moon,' then, I must confess that I have not the 
pleasure and honor of numbering him in my list of acquaintances. I 
have heard of him, of course, ever since I was a bit of boy like Willie 
here, and I have seen all kinds of queer portraits of his face in all kinds 
of pictures of the crescent moon and full moon, but I have never seen 
him — nor has any one else, so far as I have been able to learn, although 
he has been talked about for ever so many years. Indeed, it's my 
notion — mind I tell it to you in strict confidence, and you must never 
say I told you so — but it is my notion that there neither is, nor ever 
was, such a person as the ' Man in the Moon', and that all talk about 
him is nothing but 'moonshine.'" 



XIL 

STARS AND NEBULAE. 

" Now, we have finished our talk about the moon, but as it is not 
yet late, I think I will say a few words about the stars, as they pre- 
sent so wonderfully interesting a field for thought and study that I 
should be leaving my astronomical talks unfinished did I not give the 
stars more particular mention than I have yet given them. 

I have already told you that the astronomers inform us that each 
of the far-off stars we see, with the millions upon millions more which 
they can see by the aid of their great telescopes, is a great sun, like 
our own, and probably surrounded by a number *of planets or worlds, 
like our own and the others of our system. Each star — or sun as we 
are to believe it to be — with its worlds, if what we may suppose is 
correct, forms a system like ours, each perhaps separated from the 
others as widely as ours from any of them, by distances of not millions 
but trillions of miles ! — distances utterly inconceivable. What must 
be the immensity of space, then, to contain to us unnumbered millions 
of systems like our own, each separated from the other by a distance 
inconceivably great ! — and not only this, but affording room for all of 
these systems, our own included, to circle, in vast orbits, about some 
far-away central point ! Our own sun, with its whole system of worlds, 
is sweeping through space around this far-off center, wherever and 
whatever it may be, at the rate of 8 miles per second, and even at this 
rate it will be probably a million years in completing its wonderful 
circuit! — just how long has not yet been determined. It has been 
estimated, however, that a certain well-known and comparatively near 
star, or sun, will be 185,000 years in making the journey ! another one 
350,000 years ! while the faintly seen ones will be millions of years in 
making the circuit ! Amazing the power, amazing the wisdom, which 
bets created and which thus sustains and directs this countless host ! 

The far-distant center around which all the systems are thus cir- 
cling is believed to be a point lying in the constellation called Hercules. 
Just what this one great central point of influence may be is not 
known. It is a beautiful and impressive thought — and may it not be a 
truthful one? — of Bishop Warren, that it may be the Eternal City of 
God, where reigns the King and Lord of all, the countless millions of 
worlds being the distant provinces of His material kingdom, all moving 
in His sight and receiving power from a mind that never wearies. 

Although all the stars (suns) are thus in motion, so far away are 
thev that we never see them moving — nor can we detect more than 

J (96) 



Stars and Nebidce. 97 

the slightest change in position, in the case of some of them, in a life- 
time, so far away are they ! How far ? That is a hard question to 
answer, as the astronomers themselves will tell you. The method by 
which the astronomers seek to measure the distances of these far-off 
bodies I shall not try to explain to you now, but I will state that it is a 
most difficult and delicate matter to measure the distance of even the 
nearest ones. When I say nearest, I do not at all mean near, as you 
will discover in a moment. Distances in space, even between the bod- 
ies making up our own system, are amazing, as you are well aware ; 
but when we come to consider distances as related to the stars our 
amazement is increased a hundredfold. For instance, we are told 
that the distance of the nearest star, called Alpha Centauri, is 21,000,- 
000,000,000 miles ! That, remember, is the distance of the nearest one, 
one that we can see with our unaided eyes. What, then, must be the 
distance of those very, very far-away ones that can be but very faintly 
seen even through the most powerful telescopes ! So distant are the 
stars that their light, though traveling at the wonderful speed of 
186,000 miles per second, is years in reaching us. The light from Alpha 
Centauri, the nearest star, requires about 3^ years to reach us; that 
from Polaris nearly 50 years, and that from the far, far-away stars, 
hundreds and even many thousands of years! I may add, here, that 
we get a little heat, as well as light, from the stars — they are blazing 
suns, you know. 

As the stars are thus all in motion, it will come to pass in the 
course of many thousands of years that their positions will be so 
changed that the sky will present quite a different appearance from 
that presented in our time. Stars and groups of stars forming well- 
known shapes that are familiar to us now in the sky, will be in far dif- 
ferent positions in the distant future. The stars, I should tell you, are 
divided up into great groups called constellations, each of which covers 
a considerable part of the sky and includes quite a number of stars. 
These constellations are again divided up into various smaller groups 
which have received names, those of a few being given to them from 
their resemblance to things whose names they bear, but most of them 
bearing names of animals and of heathen heroes, warriors, hunters, 
etc., given them thousands of years ago by the ancient Greeks. Be- 
sides this grouping, the stars, to the number of 300,000 or more, have 
been named or numbered, and their positions marked on charts, so 
that the astronomer can quickly find on his chart or in the sky any 
star that he may want to observe. While only the astronomer with 
his star chart or map and his great telescope is able to find the most of 
these named stars, we may, by a little hard study and a little help 
from some one already familiar with them, be able to point out 
the various constellations and many of the smaller groups, and to 
point out and name many of the most familiar stars. For instance, 
there is Polaris or the ' Pole Star,' so called because of its position in 



9 8 



Stars and Nebula?, 



the northern sky, apparently just above the north pole, and whicn, be- 
cause of its position thus always in the north, has guided to safety 
thousands lost upon land and sea, by silently but plainly telling them 
that toward it is north, knowing which, they could then tell with cer- 
tainty which way was 
south or east or west, 
and so turn their course 
toward home or haven. 
Then there is Sirius, the 
' Dog Star,' the brightest 
in the sky and one about 
which boys and girls 
should be especially in- 
terested, as it is during 
the time this beautiful 
star is particularly no- 
ticeable in the sky that 
fearful mothers caution 
them about the ' dog- 
days. ' Then there are the 
groups to study — ever so 
many of them. There is 
Cassiopeia's Chair, the 
Dippers, the — ah, yes ! 
you boys all know the 
two Dippers, it seems; 
was there ever a boy who 
didn't know the Dippers, 
though he knew nothing 
else among the stars ? 
And, by the way, speak- 
ing of the Dipper reminds 
me of the matter about 
which I had started out 
to tell you when I wan- 
dered off among all the 
constellations. 

I began to tell you 
about the changes which 
will occur in the appear- 
ance of the sky, in the 
course of thousands of years, by the movements of the far-off stars — 
how they will change positions, the old familiar groups being broken up 
and new ones formed. You are to always remember, however, that al- 
though the stars of any of these groups seem close together, they are ac- 
tually separated by millions upon millions of miles, so that if we should be 




Stars and JNeonlce. 99 

able to go to any one of them, we should find the others appearing still 
as far distant as they did from the earth. As to the changes in these 
groups, we shall never be able to notice them in our brief lifetime, nor 
will they appear much changed generations hence ; but the stars 
are all in swiftest motion, flying through space, and although their dis- 
tance is so great that from century to century the changes caused by 
their movements are scarcely to be noticed, yet the time will some day 
come when these slowly growing changes will have entirely altered the 
appearance of the starry heavens. The same movements have been 
going on, of course, in the past as they are now going on, and will con- 
tinue to go on forever. For instance, one of the groups which you 
boys all seem to know so well, the Great Dipper, has not always had 
its present form, nor will it always keep it. I have some pictures here 
which will show the changes which have taken place, and which will 
take place, in this group. The first one, here, shows the positions of 
the stars of the present Dipper group as they appeared away back 
100,000 years ago, — there is no dipper shape there at all, you see. But 
they have changed their positions since that time, and we now have, 
as we long have had and will have, the familiar form of the Dipper. 
These little arrows in the picture show'the direction in which each 
star has been moving from its position of 100,000 years ago, and which 
movement has brought them into their present positions so that they 
form the present dipper-shaped group in the sky, as we have it in this 
second picture. ^ But they are still moving onward, though we do not 
notice the movement, these little arrows in this second picture showing 
in which direction each is now traveling. Inside another 100,000 years 
they will have long lost, again, their present dipper-like form, and will 
appear as in this third picture — which looks not the least bit like a dipper. 
And so with all the other stars we see, each and every one is in motion, 
and all the groups are slowly but surely being changed. 

Here — I'll make a picture showing some of the stars, groups and 
constellations of which I have just spoken — a part of those that make 
up what are called the northern circiunpolar constellations, that is, 
those surrounding the north pole of the heavens as marked, very nearly, 
by Polaris, or the Pole Star or North Star as it is commonly called. 
There — we have a picture of these stars and groups as they appear at 
this moment;* come to this north window, all of you, and I'll point out 
the real stars and groups, as they are shown here in my picture. 

You all know the Big Dipper, over here at the right, so we will 
begin with it. It forms a part of the constellation known as Ursa 
Major or the Great Bear, to which constellation belong, also, many of 
the other stars that you see around the Dipper and others that we 
cannot see to-night — there being, in all, 138 stars in this constellation 
which may be seen by our unaided eyes on a favorable night. The 

*The positions of these constellations here presented corresponds to their actual 
positions at nine o'clock on the night of December 21 of each year. 



IOO 



Stars and Xeb tiles. 



Dipper itself is made up of seven stars, as you know, and which I 
have connected with dotted lines in our picture. Those two fine stars 
forming the end of the Dipper next to the handle are called the * Point- 
ers '. for the reason that, taken together, they always point in the di- 
rection of Polaris, or the North Stai, and thus enable one to find that 
star.— Aha! some of you have taken my hint and found the North Star 
for yourselves— that bright one, there, Willie. The ' Pointers \ vou 
can readily understand, are of perhaps equal value to the North Star 




itself, to a lost person who is not sufficiently familiar with the stars to 
find the North Star without their friendly assistance. 

The North Star, as you now know it and can hereafter find it, is 
one of the seven which make up the Little Dipper, and forms the end 
of the handle. This group forming the Little Dipper belongs to a con- 
stellation known as Ursa Minor or the Little Bear, which contains, in 
all. 24 stars, only a few of which, besides those in the Little Dipper 
itself, can be seen to-night. 

That bright star out to the right of the cup part of the Little Dipper 
is called Thuban. This star, astronomers tell us, was the North or 
Pole Star 4,000 years ago, — so Polaris has not always held its present 



Stars and Nebultz 101 

distinguished position; nor will it, indeed, always retain that position, 
as the astronomers further tell us that, 12,000 years from this time, 
that bright star yonder, in a little constellation called Lyra,* will be 
the pole star. Polaris is now, I may add, about i}i degrees from the 
true polar position. 

Up yonder, above and to the left of the Little Dipper, is the con- 
stellation known as Cassiopeia, Cassiopeia was a queen, according to 
the old Greek mythology — what we term mythology being the system 
of most entertaining but most ridiculous fables believed in by the 
ancients, and which, indeed, formed their religion. There are to be 
seen, on a favorable night, 55 stars in this constellation. The most 
striking ones are the seven which form Cassiopeia's Chair, as it is 
termed — the chair on which this fabled queen was supposed to sit. 
By the dotted lines connecting these seven stars, in the picture, you 
can better catch the chair-shaped arrangement of the stars in this 
group — a very familiar one, by the way. 

The three groups I have pointed out are familiar ones to nearly 
everybody, although their names, as, also, the names of some of the 
principal stars, as I have given them to you, are familiar to but com- 
paratively few. Around and between these groups and constellations 
are other constellations, large and small, embracing all the stars we 
can see. Below Cassiopeia is the constellation called Cepheus — 
Cepheus, according to mythology, being a king and Cassiopeia's hus- 
band. Above her is the constellation called Pet sens — Perseus being 
the son-in-law of Cassiopeia. Yonder, above the Little Dipper, is the 
constellation called the Giraffe, and yonder, again, one called the Lynx. 
Beginning with that group of large, bright stars below and a little to 
the left of the Little Dipper, there is a great constellation called Draco, 
or the Dragon, which stretches away up between the two Bears or 
Dippers, taking in the star Thuban, which I pointed out a moment 
ago. And so with all the stars, besides the few we can see from this 
window — they are thus divided into constellations, and there are many 
most beautiful and striking groups like the three I have pointed out to 
you. Some night, when it is the <dark of the moon ' and more stars 
can be seen, we will go out on the lawn and I will point out many more 
constellations, groups and stars, and also the planets that may be then 
visible. As the earth moves on in her course around the sun, we will, 
of course, see different stars and constellations at different seasons, 
some being seen only during summer nights, others in winter, and so 
on. The ones we are now looking at, however — those surrounding the 
pole — can be seen every night in the year, though the constant chang- 
ing of the earth's position apparently changes their position as seen at 
different seasons. The turning of the earth on its axis, too, causes 

*The constellation Lyra is not shown in the illustration ; it lies, however, a little 
outside the circle, at the lower, left hand part, about opposite the little group of 
three bright stars. 



102 Staj's and Xebnlcz 

them all to apparently circle around the North Star daily— or nightly, 
if you choose to put it that way — and if we shall look at them an horn 
later we will notice this apparent change, the Big Dipper being higher, 
Cassiopeia lower, and so on. 

With a good telescope we are enabled to see many wonderful 
things unseen to our unaided eyes. What appears to our eyes as a 
single star may, through a telescope, appear as a double star, or a 
triple one, or one of even more parts. By a double star you are not 
to understand that there are two stars side by side, close together. — 
on the contrary they are millions of miles apart ; but they are related 
to each other, however, though thus widely separated, both revolving 
about a common center, and the same is true of triple stars, or those 
made up of still more parts. 

While most of the stars shine with a soft white light like our own 
sunlight — they are suns, too, you know — there are others that give us 
colored light — red, green, yellow, etc., these colors probably being 
caused by some element contained in the glowing suns. The presence 
of these colored stars adds to the wondrous beauty of the starry 
heavens as seen through the telescope. 

Then there are stars which, though never having been seen before, 
suddenly blaze out in the sky. Some of these soon disappear again, 
while others remain. Then, again, stars which had before been seen, 
have now entirely disappeared. The reasons for all these strange 
happenings can only be guessed at. 

According to the astronomers, suns and worlds are born, grow old 
and die, very much as do men, only the life of a sun or world is counted 
bv millions upon millions of years. The countless millions of suns and 
worlds which throng the vast universe are not all of the same age. Some, 
we are told, are very old and even now dead, and ethers far advanced 
toward that end; others, again, like our own sun and our own world, 
are but comparatively old, and are yet full of life and energy; others 
still are comparatively young — although youth in these cases may mean 
millions of years. The difference in the color of the stars, I should 
add, in connection with this subject, is thought to be very largely, if not 
entirely, due to the difference in the ages of the stars or suns — the 
younger ones, being in the most intensely heated state, showing colors 
different from those that are more and more old, and consequently in 
a less and less heated condition. ^ The plan or method by which God 
has created — and may still be creating — suns and systems has long 
been a matter for inquiry among astronomers, and theories embracing 
some wonderful operations and changes have been suggested touch- 
ing the matter. Of these theories, however, you can learn more when 
you are older. Possibly worlds are still being created. 

You all have seen the Milky Way — that great path of soft white 
light crossing the sky. To our eyes it is nothing but a soft, hazy belt, 
but through a powerful telescope we behold it— wonder of wonders ! — 



Stars and Nebulcz. 103 

a great host of stars (suns), millions upon millions of them ! Though 
separated each from each by immense distances, they appear to be 
close together, and so far away are they that they appear only as the hazy 
Milky Way to our unaided sight. There are, we are told, 18,000,000 
stars (suns) in the Milky Way, and if each has its system of worlds 
like ours, what a multitude of worlds are in this great cluster, or zone, 
alone ! The depth, alone, of this immense zone of stars, as given 
us by Herschel, the great astronomer, is astounding. With his great 
telescope he pierced the depths of this region of stars, and, as the re- 
sult of his investigations, has estimated that its depth is such that there 
are in the distance across as many as 500 stars (suns), one behind the 
other, and each separated from the other by a distance as great as that 
of our earth from the nearest star ! What immensity of space does 
this imply ! — yet it is but a little part of it, after all. Our own sun, 
with our earth and the other bodies of our system, is a part of the 
Milky Way, I may add. Our great sun is simply a star, as viewed 
from any of the far-distant suns or planets of any of these other sys- 
tems; while our own world and the other planets of our system are 
probably not seen from any of them — only our sun can be seen. The 
Milky Way stretches across the sky in the shape of a great, reclining 
letter >— <, our sun and its system of worlds occupying a position 
about where the streams, as we may call them, of suns branch out — a 
central position, in a sense. 

Mitchel, the astronomer, after supposing that we have flown from 
our earth to one of the worlds belonging to the system of one of the 
stars (suns) in the Milky Way, says, in the course of one of his lec- 
tures : — ' We have reached a new system of worlds revolving about 
another sun, and from this remote point we expect to see a new 
heaven as well as a new earth on which we stand. But no. — Lift up 
your eyes, and lo ! the old familiar constellations are all there. * * 
All is unchanged, and the mighty distance over which we have jour- 
neyed is but the thousandth part of the entire diameter of this grand 
cluster of suns and systems ; and although we have swept from our 
sun to the nearest fixed star, and have traveled a distance which light 
itself cannot traverse in less than ten years, yet the change wrought 
by this mighty journey, in the appearance of the heavens, is no 
greater than would be produced in the relative positions of persons 
composing this audience to a person near its center who should change 
his seat with his immediate neighbor ! ' Is this not wonderful ? 

But beyond the host of blazing suns and rushing planets which 
compose the Milky Way — what ? Peering through our telescopes into 
the depths far, far beyond these suns and systems, we see great num- 
bers of what seem to be patches of faint, hazy light. We bring 
to bear upon one of these inconceivably distant patches of light 
a telescope of greater power, and lo ! like the hazy Milky Way 
itself this patch of light appears to our astonished eyes another 



104 Stars and Nebula. 

countless multitude of blazing suns. All that we have already seen 
again repeated ! — and our astronomer again breaks forth : ' We have 
reached the clustering of ten millions of stars. Look to the right, 
there is no limit ; — look to the left, there is no end ! Above, below, 
suns rise upon suns, and systems upon systems, in endless and im- 
measurable perspective. Here is a new universe, as magnificent, as 
glorious as our own, — a new Milky Way whose vast diameter the 
flashing light would not cross in a thousand years ! ' And then he adds, 
1 Nor is this a solitary object. Go out on a clear, cold winter night 
and reckon the stars which strew the heavens, and count their num- 
ber, and for every single orb thus visible to the naked eye the telescope 
reveals a universe, far sunk in the depths of space, and scattered with 




STAR CLUSTER. 

vast profusion over the entire surface of the heavens. Some of these 
blaze with countless stars, while others, occupying the confines of 
visible space, but dimly stain the blue of the sky, just perceptible with 
the most powerful means man can summon to the aid of his vision ! ' 
These far-distant patches of light are called clusters and nebulcz. 
The clusters are those which, as I have just described, have been dis- 
covered by the use of powerful telescopes, to be stars (suns) in count- 
less numbers ! There are a great many of these clusters, and others 
are being added to the list from what were formerly supposed to be 
nebulae. The nebulae, I should state, are those of the far-away patches 
of light which do not prove to be star clusters, but instead are known 
to be great masses of gas of some kind. The nebulae are very numer- 
ous, and new ones are being found. Some of these, howevef,'may 



Stars and Nebulcz. 



105 



prove, by the use of yet more powerful telescopes, to be other star 
clusters, but many are known to be merely masses of gaseous matter. 
As to their source and purpose we can only guess. Some of them are 
of strange and beautiful shape, and have received names, in many 




RING NEBULA. 



cases, which express the fact of their resemblance to some familiar 
object — the resemblance being sometimes very close; for instance, we 
have the Crab, Horn, Spiral, Dumb-bell, Ring, and other nebulae. 
Here are pictures of two nebulas. There are about 8,000 known nebulas. 




HORN NEBULA. 



And, now, we have gone as far as we can — as far as the most pow- 
erful telescopes yet made can reach. What lies beyond we cannot 
tell, though having gone so far, we very naturally long to go yet farther 
in beholding the mysteries of God's great universe. In closing our 
talks, then, I cannot do so more fittingly than by repeating the language 



106 Stars and Nebula. 

of what we may term the dream of the German poet, Richter, — a dream, 
yet embodying a wonderful, a glorious truth : — 

1 God called up from dreams a man into the vestibule of heaven, 
saying, " Come thou hither and see the glory of my house." And to the 
servants that stood around his throne He said, "Take him, and undress 
him from his robes of flesh; cleanse his vision, and put a new breath 
into his nostrils; only touch not with any change his human heart — the 
heart that weeps and trembles." It was done; and, with a mighty angel 
for his guide, the man stood ready for his infinite voyage; and from the 
terraces of heaven, without sound or farewell, at once they wheeled 
away into endless space. Sometimes with the solemn flight of angel 
wing they fled through Zaarrahs of darkness, through wildernesses of 
death, that divided the worlds of life; sometimes they swept over 
frontiers that were quickening under prophetic motions from God. 
Then, from a distance that is counted only in heaven, light dawned for 
a time through a sleepy film; by unutterable pace the light swept to them, 
they by unutterable pace to the light. In a moment the rushing of plan- 
ets was upon them; in a moment the blazing of suns w r as around them. 

Then came eternities of twilight, that revealed but were not re- 
vealed. On the right and on the left towered mighty constellations, 
that by self-repetitions and answers from afar, that by counter-posi- 
tions built up triumphal gates whose architraves, whose archways — 
horizontal, upright — rested, rose, at altitude by spans that seemed 
ghostly from infinitude. Without measure were the architraves, past 
number were the archways, beyond memory the gates. Within w r ere 
stairs that scaled the eternities below; above was below — below was 
above, to the man stripped of gravitating body; depth was swallowed 
up in height insurmountable, height was swallowed up in depth un- 
fathomable. Suddenly, as thus they rode from infinite to infinite, 
suddenly, as thus they tilted over abysmal worlds, a mighty cry arose — 
that systems more mysterious, that worlds more billowy, — other heights 
and other depths, — were coming, were nearing, were at hand! 

Then the man sighed and stopped, shuddered and wept. His 
overladened heart uttered itself in tears; and he said — "Angel, I will 
go no farther. For the spirit of man acheth with this infinity. In- 
sufferable is the glory of God. Let me lie down in the grave and hide 
me from the persecution of the infinite; for end, I see, there is none!" 
And from all the listening stars that shone around issued a choral 
voice, "The man speaks truly: end there is none that ever yet we 
heard of." " End is there none?" the angel solemnly demanded: "is 
there indeed no end? — and is this the sorrow that kills you?" But no 
voice answered, that he might answer himself. Then the angel threw 
up his glorious hands to the heaven of heavens, saying, " End there is 
none to the universe of God. Lo, also, there is no beginning! " ' 

Good night." 



Appendix. 



107 



APPENDIX. 



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icS Appendix, — Addendum. 

List of Refracting Telescopes in the United States, of a diameter 
of ii inches, and larger. Those marked * are in process of construc- 
tion. 

This list— by Prof. Lewis Swift— is the most perfect extant.) 

Observatory. Diameter in Inches . 

Lick (i) Mt. Hamilton, Cal 36 

*Yale College, New Haven, Conn 28 

Naval, Washington, D. C 26 

University of Virginia, Charlottesville , 26 

*Harvard College (Photographic, 1), Cambridge, Mass 24 

Princeton College, Princeton, X. J 23 

*Chamberlain, Denver, Colo 20 

Dearborn, Evanston, 111 18^ 

Warner, Rochester, X. Y 16 

*Carlton College, Xorthfield, Minn 16 

Washburn, Madison, Wis 15^ 

Harvard University (2), Cambridge, Mass 15 

Litchfield, Clinton, X. Y 13 y 2 

Dudley, Albany, X. Y 13 

Allegheny, Allegheny, Pa 13 

Rutherford. New York 13 

Ann Arbor University, Ann Arbor, Mich 12^ 

Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, X. Y 12H 

Morrison. Glasgow, Mo 12X 

Lick (2), Mt. Hamilton, Cal 12 

Draper, Dobbs Ferry, X. Y 12 

White, Brooklyn. X. Y 12 

Cincinnati, Mt. Lookout, Ohio 11^ 

Middletown. Middletown, Conn 11 

Largest refracting telescope in the world. ..Lick (California), 36 inches 

Largest reflecting telescope in the world Lord Rosse's, 72 inches 

Lord Rosse's telescope is in Ireland. 



ADDENDUM 

Since chapter on comets was written, a new comet has been dis- 
covered (Xovember 16) by Prof. Lewis Swift. 



SUPPLEMENTKRY. 



yrLTHOUGrH this Christmas Annual for 1890 is dedicated to the Youth of America, 

/J its pages will be read with eager delight by thousands of adults, including the 

/^ fathers, mothers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and other relatives of the 

\ specially favored ones. But when weary of studying "the spacious firmament 

on high" and vainly trying to comprehend the full significance of the stupendous 

I truths, Science with the aid of the telescope has revealed, one and all will turn to 

the contemplation of mundane affairs, with, perhaps, a newly wakened interest. To 

such (when this opportune moment has arrived) 

to whose active zeal in their welfare the "Boys and 

Girls" are indebted for this and previous "compli- 

! mentary benefits"— deems it proper in the line of 

I useful information to call attention to this map of 




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THE CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND AND PACIFIC RAILWAY, 

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In the management and operation of this system in all its varied departments, 

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^ ^ N " a ^ B ^ l ^ B ^ ^^ buildings; new and elegant passenger equipment; 
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some of its many features which have made the Rock Island so popular with the travel- 
ing public the world over. Though latest in the arena of Colorado competition, it is 
unquestionably the favorite to all points reached via Denver, Colorado Springs and 
Pueblo, and the choice of the transcontinental traveler to the Pacific Coast. 

With these timely remarks and the added suggestion that further information 
will be cheerfully imparted or sent when applied for, "A MAN 55 extends to each and 
all, his compliments and best wishes for the year of 1890. 

E. ST. JOHN, JOHN SEBASTIAN, 

General Manager. CHICAGO. Gen'l Ticket and Pavssenger Agent. 




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